Despite Department Store Resilience... Lotte Shopping's Operating Profit Last Year 215.6 Billion Won, Down 37.7%

[Asia Economy Reporter Yuri Kim] Lotte Shopping announced on the 8th that its consolidated operating profit for last year was 215.6 billion KRW, a 37.7% decrease compared to the previous year. During the same period, sales amounted to 15.5811 trillion KRW, down 3.7%. This figure is slightly below the financial investment industry's consensus estimates. The net loss was 286.8 billion KRW, with the deficit narrowing.

Operating profit in the fourth quarter of last year was 117.3 billion KRW, down 35.3% year-on-year. Sales during the same period decreased by 4.1% to 3.7919 trillion KRW.

Last year's fourth-quarter department store performance held up well. It was explained that due to the base effect from the same period last year, there was balanced sales growth across all product categories. Sales were 835 billion KRW, up 9.4% year-on-year, and operating profit was 205 billion KRW, an increase of 15.7%. Including this, the department store's sales for last year were 2.888 trillion KRW, and operating profit was 349 billion KRW. These represent increases of 8.8% and 6.4%, respectively, compared to the previous year.

However, Lotte Mart struggled due to a decline in in-home dining demand, resulting in decreased same-store sales. Discount store sales in the fourth quarter of last year were 1.335 trillion KRW, down 5.0%, and operating loss was 18 billion KRW due to one-time costs related to voluntary retirement. E-commerce sales in the fourth quarter of last year were 28 billion KRW, down 8.2%, with an operating loss of 49 billion KRW.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.