▲ The corporate logo of Lotte Chilsung Beverage Co. (Yonhap)

(LEAD) Lotte Chilsung Beverage-Q1 earnings

(LEAD) Lotte Chilsung Q1 net more than doubles on higher sales

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SEOUL, May 2 (Yonhap) -- South Korean beverage giant Lotte Chilsung Beverage Co. said Monday its first-quarter earnings more than doubled on increased domestic demand and exports.

Consolidated net profit came to 37.2 billion won (US$29.4 million) in the January-March period, up 127.3 percent from a year earlier, the country's leading beverage maker said in a regulatory filing.

Its operating profit jumped 84.9 percent on-year to 59.7 billion won in the three-month period, with revenue climbing 16.2 percent to 626.3 billion won.

Lotte Chilsung's first-quarter bottom line beat market expectations. The average estimate of net profit by analysts stood at 26.1 billion won, according to a survey by Yonhap Infomax, the financial data firm of Yonhap News Agency.

The company said sales of bottled water, carbonated drinks and energy drinks expanded at a double-digit rate, with its overall overseas shipments spiking nearly 30 percent. Yet exports to Russia fell 2 percent amid its invasion of Ukraine.

Lotte Chilsung said its liquor business division saw sales swelling 21 percent on-year to 194.2 billion won, with operating income shooting up 134 percent to 21.6 billion won.

Sales of soju, a popular Korean distilled liquor, increased nearly 20 percent in the first quarter thanks to a price markup in early March, said the major maker of beer and soju here.

Lotte Chilsung is the beverage arm of Lotte Group, the country's fifth-largest conglomerate by assets, whose business runs from retail to chemicals.

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