NAVER Corp., South Korea's top Internet portal operator, said Thursday its first-quarter net decreased 17.9 percent from a year earlier.

Net profit came to 128.9 billion won (US$126 million) in the January-March period, compared with 156.9 billion won posted a year earlier, NAVER said in a regulatory filing.

Revenue gained 23.9 percent to 638 billion won while its operating profit advanced 50.5 percent to 189.8 billion won over the cited period.

The figures exclude the performance of NHN Entertainment, an online gaming business arm of NAVER that splintered off in August 2013.

In 2013, NAVER's net profit came to 325.8 billion won, down

18.7 percent from a year earlier. Its revenue and operating profit advanced 28.5 percent and 0.6 percent on-year, respectively, to 2.3 trillion won and 524.1 billion won.

Shares of NAVER closed 1.08 percent lower Wednesday at 731,000 won on the main bourse, while the benchmark KOSPI edged down 1 percent. The first-quarter result was released before the stock market opened Thursday.

(Yonhap)