This file photo, taken July 5, 2020, shows KT Corp.’s office in central Seoul. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, Aug. 7 (Korea Bizwire) — KT Corp., South Korea’s No. 2 wireless carrier, said Monday its second-quarter net income jumped 19 percent from a year earlier thanks to robust sales in business-to-business operations.
KT’s net profit reached 432.5 billion won (US$331.8 million) in the three months through June on a consolidated basis, up from 363.4 billion won the previous year, according to the company in a regulatory filing.
Its operating profit for the April-June period rose 25.5 percent on-year to 576.1 billion won and sales increased 3.7 percent to 6.54 trillion won, the largest quarterly amount in any second quarter since 2010.
The earnings exceeded market expectations. The average estimate of net profit by analysts stood at 399.4 billion won, according to a survey by Yonhap Infomax, the financial data firm of Yonhap News Agency.
The company said the larger-than-expected performance in the second quarter was led by its business-to-business sectors.
Sales of its platform service for businesses rose 0.6 percent on-year to 509.6 billion won, and those of its business communications service expanded 7.6 percent to 546.9 billion won from a year earlier.
KT also saw sales of its business-to-customer platform business rise 3.8 percent on-year to 575.6 billion won, and the wireless business for customers posted 2.4 trillion won in sales, up 0.8 percent from a year ago.
The number of 5G subscribers reached 9.28 million, which accounted for 68 percent of all of KT’s mobile users, the company said.
Shares of KT jumped 4.07 percent to close at 32,000 won on the main Seoul bourse, far outperforming KOSPI’s 0.85 percent decline. Its earnings report was released after the market opened.
(Yonhap)
