Naver’s Q1 profit jumps 28% on increased ad income

Naver, operator of Korea’s most popular search engine, said Thursday its net profit soared 28 percent in the first quarter from a year earlier on increased advertisement income.

Net profit reached 211 billion won ($186 million) on a consolidated basis in the January-March period, compared with a profit of 165 billion won a year earlier, the company said in a regulatory filing.

“As mobile handset users increasingly look for information from our search engine, companies offered to post more of their advertisements for more exposure,” a company spokesman said.

Revenue from its advertisement business increased 22 percent to 99.7 billion won in the first quarter from 81.5 billion won a year earlier, he said. Operating profit rose 13 percent year on year to 290.8 billion won in the first quarter, and sales surged 16 percent to 1.08 trillion won.

YONHAP