(2nd LD) Amorepacific Q3 net jumps on base effect

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SEOUL, Oct. 29 (Yonhap) -- Amorepacific Corp., South Korea's leading cosmetics company, said Friday its third-quarter net profit jumped more than fivefold from a year earlier due to a base effect.

Net profit for the three months ended in September and soared to 38.5 billion won (US$33 million) from 7 billion won in the year-ago period, the company said in a statement.

"Last year, the won's strength against the dollar and losses resulting from the disposal of the company's stores in China were factored in the third-quarter bottom line. But there were no such factors in this past quarter," a company spokesman said over the phone.

In recent years, Amorepacific's outlets in China suffered declining sales due to the lingering impact of a diplomatic dispute between Beijing and Seoul over the deployment of the U.S. anti-missile system, called THAAD, in South Korea in 2017 and the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic.

Operating profit fell 10 percent to 50.3 billion won in the third quarter from 56 billion won a year ago due to sluggish overseas sales, the statement said.

"Robust domestic sales fell short of offsetting weak demand in China and Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries," the spokesman said.

Sales rose 1.9 percent to 1.109 trillion won from 1.089 trillion won during the same period.

From January to September, net profit nearly tripled to 235.3 billion won from 80.8 billion won during the same period of last year.

Operating profit more than doubled to 317.8 billion won in the first nine months from 152.2 billion won a year earlier. Sales rose 8 percent to 3.538 trillion won from 3.275 trillion won.

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