(LEAD) HMM Q1 losses narrow on decreased costs

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SEOUL, May 15 (Yonhap) -- HMM Co., South Korea's biggest shipping company by sales, said Friday that its net losses narrowed in the first quarter from a year earlier due to decreased operating costs and increased shipping charges.

Net losses narrowed to 65.6 billion won (US$53.3 million) in the January-March period from 178.5 billion won a year earlier, the company said in a statement.

HMM said a sharp hike in shipping charges, its cost-cutting efforts and securing high-value shipping deals helped the company to reduce its shortfall.

Operating losses sharply narrowed to 2 billion won in the first quarter from a 105.7 billion won deficit a year ago. Sales fell 0.2 percent on-year to 1.31 trillion won during the cited period, the company said.

Shares in HMM rose 1.08 percent to 3,735 won on the Seoul bourse, outperforming the broader KOSPI's 0.12 percent gain.

entropy@yna.co.kr
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