Lotte Chemical swings to black in Q1

SEOUL, May 7 (Yonhap) -- Lotte Chemical Corp. on Friday reported its first-quarter net income of 537.9 billion won (US$479.6 million), turning from a loss of 90.2 billion won a year earlier.

Operating profit for the January-March period was 623.8 billion, compared with a loss of 86 billion won a year ago, the company said in a regulatory filing. Sales rose 27.3 percent to 4.16 trillion won.

The operating profit was 18.8 percent higher than the average estimate, according to the survey by Yonhap Infomax, the financial data firm of Yonhap News Agency. The estimate of net profit was not available.
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