(LEAD) GS Retail Q1 net rises nearly fivefold

(ATTN: RECASTS headline, lead; UPDATES throughout)

SEOUL, April 27 (Yonhap) -- Major South Korean retailer GS Retail Co. said Monday its first-quarter net profit rose nearly five times from a year earlier on solid sales despite the new coronavirus outbreak.

Net income stood at 49.4 billion won (US$40 million) in the January-March period, up 370.7 percent from a year earlier, the company said in a regulatory filing.

Sales rose 2.8 percent on-year to 2.14 trillion won during the three-month period, the largest first-quarter figure. Operating income came to 88.8 billion won, up 314.7 percent from a year earlier.

The operating profit was 316.5 percent higher than the market consensus, according to the survey by Yonhap Infomax, the financial news arm of Yonhap News Agency. The median estimate for net profit was not available.

GS Retail, the retail business arm of GS Group, attributed the jump in first-quarter earnings to mainly its high-efficiency, low-cost business structure.

Sales also posted modest gains as the company has emerged as a neighborhood retail platform that meets the needs of households with one to two members and is not vulnerable to economic crises, the firm said.

GS Retail said operating income of GS25, its convenience store chain and flagship, soared 51.3 percent on-year to 40.6 billion won in the first quarter, with sales climbing 2.9 percent to about 1.6 trillion won.

GS Group is South Korea's eighth-largest conglomerate by assets, whose business portfolio ranges from retail to energy.

(END)