Lotte Shopping swings to loss in Q3 amid THAAD row

SEOUL, Oct. 26 (Yonhap) -- Lotte Shopping Co., the retail unit of South Korea's fifth-largest conglomerate Lotte, said Thursday it swung to the red in the third quarter from a year earlier amid a diplomatic row between Seoul and Beijing over the deployment of a U.S. missile defense system here. It suffered a loss of 533 billion won (US$473 million) on a consolidated basis in the July-September period, compared to a net profit of 78 billion won posted a year earlier, Lotte Shopping said in a regulatory filing. The company operates Lotte's key retail units, including its department store and hypermarket chains. Operating income stood at 75 billion won, down 57.6 percent on-year, reflecting the business group's plight that stems from Beijing's apparent retaliation over Seoul's deployment of the U.S. Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system on its soil. Sales also declined 6 percent to 7.1 trillion won over the cited period. The numbers reflect the performances of Lotte Shopping and its subsidiaries, including Lotte HiMart Co. which specializes in home appliances. Lotte Shopping was one of the most hurt companies from Beijing's economic retaliation after it signed a land-swap deal with the Seoul government to host the missile shield system. The conglomerate recently decided to withdraw its discount store business from the Chinese market, after 87 out of 99, or 87.9 percent, of its stores have suspended operations in the neighboring country since early this year. scaaet@yna.co.kr (END)