Starbucks Korea logs record earnings in 2019

SEOUL, Feb. 13 (Yonhap) -- Starbucks Korea saw its net profit advance 18.5 percent in 2019 from a year earlier to a record high as the company continued to expand its number of stores here, data showed Thursday.

Net profit came to 132.8 billion won (US$112.3 million), compared with 112 billion won posted a year earlier, according to the regulatory filing by discount store chain E-Mart Inc.

Operating profit jumped 22.6 percent to hit 175.1 billion won, with its sales advancing 22.8 percent over the period to 1.8 trillion won to set a record high.

E-Mart, the country's biggest discount store chain operated by Shinsegae Group, holds a 50-percent stake in Starbucks Korea, with the remaining portion controlled by its U.S. parent Starbucks.

The coffee chain said there were 1,336 stores in South Korea as of end-2019, which is 74 more than the previous year.

Starbucks entered the South Korean market in 1999.

colin@yna.co.kr
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