"Lotte Shopping's Q1 Operating Profit Rises 11.2% to 68.7 Billion Won on Department Store and Mart Improvements"

Q1 Sales of 3.7708 Trillion KRW, Down 2.8% YoY
"Department Store and Mart Performance Rebound Trend, Improvement Expected with Reopening"

Lotte Department Store Main Branch.

[Asia Economy Reporter Yuri Kim] Lotte Shopping announced on the 9th that its operating profit for the first quarter of this year reached 68.7 billion KRW, an increase of 11.2% compared to the same period last year. During the same period, sales decreased by 2.8% to 3.7708 trillion KRW. Net profit turned positive at 69.1 billion KRW.

Although the spread of the COVID-19 Omicron variant was severe in the first quarter of this year, the company explained that expectations for reopening (economic resumption) and consumer trends benefited major business divisions, leading to improvements in operating profit and net profit. In particular, the company stated that the sales and operating profit of the two main pillars of Lotte Shopping, the department store and mart divisions, showed gradual improvement, and they expect a full-scale performance rebound starting this year.

The department store recorded sales of 740 billion KRW in the first quarter, a 9.4% increase compared to the same period last year, and operating profit also rose by 2.6% to 105 billion KRW. Same-store sales increased by 8.2% in the first quarter, showing solid growth centered on overseas fashion (23.4%). The company said, "Despite a temporary acquisition tax of 16.1 billion KRW incurred due to the merger of four subsidiaries related to new businesses (Lotte Incheon Development, Lotte Town Dongtan, Lotte Songdo Shopping Town, Lotte Shopping Town Daegu), operating profit slightly increased (+2.6%) compared to the previous year," adding, "We view the performance improvement expected from this year positively."

The mart division posted sales of 1.481 trillion KRW and operating profit of 16 billion KRW in the first quarter, showing improvements of 0.4% and 1662.1%, respectively, compared to the same period last year. Although an acquisition tax of 1.6 billion KRW was incurred due to the merger of four subsidiaries, operating profit increased due to the disappearance of the early retirement cost effect (4.4 billion KRW) from the first quarter of last year, improvement in Lotte’s Robs profitability, and profit growth from e-commerce governance adjustments. The mart’s overseas business showed stable operating conditions in the countries it has entered, recording sales of 347 billion KRW and operating profit of 9 billion KRW in the first quarter. These figures represent increases of 12.1% and 27.8%, respectively, compared to the same period last year.

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