Korea Gas Q1 net profit up 42.9 pct to 736.1 bln won

SEOUL, May 11 (Yonhap) -- Korea Gas Corp. on Wednesday reported its first-quarter net profit of 736.1 billion won (US$576.6 million), up 42.9 percent from a year earlier.

Operating income for the January-March period was 912.6 billion won, up 19.4 percent from a year ago, the company said in a regulatory filing. Sales rose 81.3 percent to 13.97 trillion won.

The earnings exceeded market expectations. The average estimate of net profit by analysts stood at 509.6 billion won, according to the survey by Yonhap Infomax, the financial data firm of Yonhap News Agency.
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