Amore Pacific reports profit off 4.3 percent in first quarter

Cosmetics giant Amore Pacific said its operating profit in the first quarter shrunk 4.3 percent year-on-year to 73.7 billion won ($67.9 million).

Net profit fell nearly 18 percent to 117 billion won while revenue increased 10.6 percent on-year to 980.2 billion won.

The company said sales were up 11.9 percent to 779.1 billion won while personal care products such as shampoo and so forth increased 7.4 percent to 135.9 billion won. Its health care business went up 2.5 percent to 65.2 billion won. The company said overseas business particularly thrived. The cosmetic group’s overseas sales grew 36.8 percent to 126.9 billion won.

Despite the healthy growth in sales the company said operating profits shrunk largely due to increased marketing costs.