By Yoon Sung-won
Naver posted 290.8 billion won ($257.45 million) in operating profit in the first quarter, up 13.2 percent from a year earlier, the company said Thursday.
The nation's top internet service provider said its sales reached 1.08 trillion won in the quarter, up 15.5 percent from the previous year. Its net profit was 210.9 billion won, up 27.8 percent. For the first quarter of 2016, Naver posted 256.8 billion won in operating profit, 937.3 billion won in sales and 165 billion won in net profit.
Keyword advertisements and mobile payment services were the two biggest driving forces of Naver's growth, the company said.
Naver said it has generated 509.7 billion won in sales with operating business platform services such as its keyword and shopping ads. Its info-tech platforms including the mobile payment service Naver Pay generated 43.4 billion won in sales, up 91.9 percent from a year earlier.
Its mobile service subsidiaries including LINE Corp., Camp Mobile and SNOW have created 406 billion won in sales in the quarter.
LINE Corp., which is listed in Japan and the United States, chalked up about 398.2 billion won in sales and 40.8 billion won in operating profit in the first quarter. The company's global mobile messenger service LINE had 171 million monthly active users in the same quarter, maintaining the top presence in Japan, Taiwan, Thailand and Indonesia.
The company also said it is aggressively pushing for next-generation technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI).
"Naver is evolving into a technology platform operation based on AI technologies," Naver CEO Han Seong-sook said during a conference call.
CFO Park Sang Jin said, "We have invested 107.7 billion won so far this year, 40 percent of which was made for the AI platform sector."
Naver and LINE Corp. are developing an AI-based service named Clova and plan to release a Clova mobile app in the first half and Clova-based voice-recognizing speakers WAVE series in Korea and Japan in the summer.
Home appliances lead LG's profit
LG Electronics posted 921.5 billion won in operating profit in the first quarter, up 82 percent from the previous year, on solid sales of home appliances.
This was the largest operating profit in eight years and second-largest throughout the company's history.
The nation's second-largest electronics maker said its sales reached 14.65 trillion won, up 9.7 percent from a year earlier. The net profit was 835.7 billion won, up 321.9 percent from a year ago. In the first quarter of 2016, LG Electronics recorded 13.36 trillion won in sales and 198 billion won in net profit.
LG Electronics' home appliance and air solution business unit alone recorded 520.8 billion won in operating profit, up 28 percent. It is the largest figure in its history. It said strong sales of premium products such as Twin Wash drum washers and Whisen dual air conditioners have led the robust performance.
"We expect an increase in demand for air conditioners and refrigerators in the second quarter as well as economic recovery in new growth markets such as Asia and Central and South America," the company said. "We plan to expand sales of our premium brand products in overseas markets to lead profitability."
LG Electronics said it sold 14.8 million handsets in the first quarter, up 10 percent from the previous year. The company said the popularity of its budget models ― the X series and the K series ― have expanded sales volume.
"In the budget handset sector, we have boosted profitability by concentrating on the X series and the K series," the company said. "In the premium model sector, we have released the LG G6 this year."
However, the mobile business unit recorded 200 million won in operating losses. It is the eighth consecutive quarter for LG Electronics' mobile business unit to remain unprofitable.