Emart Q1 Operating Profit Up 154%... "Enhancing Offline Competitiveness" (Comprehensive)

Traders Operating Profit Up 38%... SSG.com Reduces Deficit Margin

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Chun-han] Emart announced on the 13th that its consolidated operating profit for the first quarter of this year was tentatively estimated at 123.2 billion KRW, an increase of 154.4% compared to the same period last year. Operating profit recovered to the 100 billion KRW level for the first time in three years since recording 153.5 billion KRW in 2018. Sales reached 5.8958 trillion KRW, up 13.1%, and net profit increased by 129.4% to 102.1 billion KRW.

By business segment, both discount stores and warehouse discount stores Traders continued their growth trend. Discount store sales increased by 8% year-on-year to 3.0019 trillion KRW, and operating profit rose by 6.9% to 91.2 billion KRW. This is largely attributed to the offline store competitiveness enhancement strategy, which led to a 7.9% increase in same-store sales growth. Traders’ sales grew by 25% to 838.7 billion KRW, and operating profit increased by 37.9% to 24 billion KRW.

The performance of major subsidiaries such as SSG.com and Emart24 also improved. SSG.com’s sales rose 9.8% year-on-year to 337.1 billion KRW. Operating losses narrowed by 16.6 billion KRW to 3.1 billion KRW. Emart24’s sales increased by 19.4% to 423 billion KRW, and operating losses decreased by 2.7 billion KRW to 5.3 billion KRW. Shinsegae Food turned profitable with an operating profit of 5.1 billion KRW. Shinsegae TV Shopping, Shinsegae Property, and Shinsegae I&C also maintained profitability.

An Emart official said, “With balanced growth in both offline and online sectors, we achieved operating profit in the 100 billion KRW range for the first time in three years. We will continue to grow by strengthening store competitiveness and enhancing online-offline synergy.”