LG Uplus Corp., a major mobile carrier in South Korea, said Wednesday its third-quarter net income tumbled 63.6 percent from a year earlier due to a one-off factor related to a voluntary retirement program.
Its net income came to 49.1 billion won ($33.9 million) on a consolidated basis for the July-September period, down from 134.9 billion won a year earlier, according to its regulatory filing.
The earnings fell behind market expectations. The average estimate of net profit by analysts stood at 77.6 billion won, according to a survey by Yonhap Infomax, the financial data firm of Yonhap News Agency.
Operating income for the three-month period fell 34.3 percent on-year to 161.7 billion won. Sales increased 5.5 percent to 4.01 trillion won.
LG Uplus attributed the sharp drop in quarterly net profit to increased one-off spending related to its voluntary retirement program in August.
Sales from the mainstay mobile business rose 5.6 percent to 1.71 trillion won for the three months ending in September, as the number of its wireless service subscriptions, including budget phone and smart home internet users, expanded 8.6 percent on-year to 30.25 million.
The smart home business unit, which includes internet protocol televisions and internet services, reported 673.4 billion won in sales, up 3.5 percent from a year ago.
Revenue from the infrastructure unit, which is in charge of its internet data center and other business-to-business operations, climbed 1.8 percent to 427.9 billion won. (Yonhap)
