Lotte Shopping Q4 net up 22 pct on increased sales

By Nam Kwang-sik

SEOUL, Feb. 3 (Yonhap) -- Lotte Shopping Co., South Korea's largest department store chain, said Tuesday that its fourth-quarter profit rose 22 percent from a year earlier on increased sales.

Net profit reached 228.5 billion won (US$164.7 million) in the October-December
period, compared with 187.6 billion won a year ago, Lotte Shopping said in a
regulatory filing.
Revenue grew 6 percent on-year to 2.9 trillion won during the same period, but
operating profit inched down 0.3 percent to 212.6 billion won.
For the whole of 2008, net profit added 8 percent on-year to 746.2 billion. Sales
rose 8.8 percent to 11 trillion won and operating profit gained 1.6 percent to
769 billion won.
Shares of Lotte Shopping fell 1.32 percent to finish at 187,500 won.
"Last year's good results stemmed from strong earnings sparked off by the
expansion of new stores and our business line, despite the global economic
turbulence," Lotte Shopping said.