The headquarters of Woori Financial Group in Seoul / Courtesy of Woori Financial Group

Woori Financial Group on Friday reported its first-quarter net income of 839.5 billion won ($609.7 million), down 11.3 percent from a year earlier.

Operating profit for the January-March period was 1.14 trillion won, down 8.2 percent from a year ago, the company said in a regulatory filing. Sales rose 2.4 percent to 12.85 trillion won.

The earnings beat market expectations. The average estimate of net profit by analysts stood at 808.3 billion won, according to a survey by Yonhap Infomax, the financial data firm of Yonhap News Agency. (Yonhap)