Lotte, Shinsegae perform strong in 2022 on robust department store sales

Lotte Shopping logo [Courtesy of Lotte Shopping]

South Korea’s two largest retailers Lotte Shopping Co. and Shinsegae Inc. enjoyed strong earnings in 2022 thanks to solid sales from their department stores.

Lotte Shopping said in a regulatory filing on Wednesday that it posted 394.2 billion won ($312 million) in operating profit in 2022, up 89.9 percent from a year ago. Sales fell 0.6 percent to 15.5 trillion won.

Strong annual performance was led by its department stores that raised 498 billion won in operating profit in 2022, up 42.9 percent from a year ago, on sales of 3.2 trillion won, up 11.9 percent. It is the first time in three years for department store sales to top 3 trillion won.

Its discount store chain Lotte Mart swung to an operating profit of 54 billion won in 2022 on sales of 5.9 trillion won, up 3.3 percent on year. Its e-commerce business logged 156 billion won in operating loss, although the company managed to narrow losses by improving overall profit structure to focus on beauty, luxury, and fashion sales.

Its home appliance sales outlet Lotte Himart Co., in the meantime, logged its first annual operating loss of 52 billion won as sales of home appliances fell due to high interest rate and sluggish property transactions. Lotte Home Shopping saw a 23.5 percent fall in operating profit due to a decline in the sales of high-margin products.

In the fourth quarter alone, Lotte Shopping saw a 0.2 percent on-year rise in sales that came to 3.8 trillion won but its operating profit fell 7.5 percent to 101.1 billion won due to weak consumption amid interest rate hikes and high inflation. Both its sales and operating profit fell short of a brokerage consensus of 3.9 trillion won and 167.8 billion won.

Shares of Lotte Shopping were trading 0.97 percent higher at 93,400 won on Thursday.

[Photo by MK DB]

Shinsegae also disclosed that its consolidated operating profit stood at an all-time high of 645.4 billion won in 2022, up 24.7 percent from a year ago, on sales of 7.8 trillion won, up 23.7 percent. Net profit also rose 29.9 percent to 505 billion won.

In the fourth quarter alone, Shinsegae reported 141.3 billion won in operating profit, down 27.6 percent from the same period a year ago. Sales were up 14.5 percent to 2.2 trillion won. The operating profit is below the market consensus of 203 billion won.

Department store sales reached 668.6 billion won in the fourth quarter, up 4.8 percent from a year ago, and operating profit 149.9 billion won, up 6.9 percent.

Shinsegae DF, the duty-free outlet operator, however, saw its profitability worsen last year due to high rent fees and patent commissions.

Shares of Shinsegae were trading 1.98 percent lower at 222,500 won on Thursday.