Asiana Airlines Sees
1st Qtr. Sales Rise 6.6 Pct
- Net profits drop due to soaring oil prices


Despite the worst internal and external business circumstances, Kumho Asiana Group posted a better business performance for the first quarter: 185.1 billion won in ordinary profits and 152.7 trillion won in net profits on 2,077 trillion won worth sales.
The group said on April 22 that thanks to a rise in its subsidiaries' sales, aggregate sales surged 15.9 percent to 2,207.7 trillion won in the first three months of the year over the sam e period of last year, and they posted a record high of 167.7 trillion won in operating profits.
But the group raked in 185.1 billion in ordinary profits, a 10.4 percent plunge, while registering 152.7 billion won in operating profits, an 11.5 percent decline.
The drop in ordinary profits and net profits is attributable to 40 billion won worth of unusual revenues on the disposal of AAS Airport Services, a former subsidiary of the group, in the first quarter of last year.
By subsidiary, Asiana Airlines saw first-quarter sales rise 6.6 percent to 727.7 billion won, but due to the worst business conditions in which oil prices soared 33.1 percent compared to the previous period, its operating profits dropped sharply 50.7 percent to 13.9 billion won; ordinary profits plummeted 56.5 percent to 34.8 billion won; and net profits also plunged 59 percent to 32 billion won.
On the other hand, Korea Kumho Petrochemical Co. witnessed its sales surge 25.9 percent to 424.6 billion won during the January-March over the same period last year. Its operating profits rose 1.7 percent to 29.6 billion won; ordinary profits increased 19.4 percent to 54.4 billion won and net profits soared an attractive 29.3 percent to 40.9 billion won.
Kumho Tire Co. registered a 12 percent rise to 428.1 billion won and a 0.5 percent rise to 43.7 billion won in operating profits, but reported a 46.9 percent drop to 20.9 billion won and a 42.5 plunge to 16.6 billion in net profits.
Kumho Industrial Co. posted a 10.5 percent jump to 305.7 billion won in sales, a 0.8 percent rise to 29.2 billion won, a 8.6 percent increase to 43.5 billion in ordinary profits and a 13.1 percent to 40.1 billion in net profits.
Kumho Papertec Inc. saw its sales dropping 14.8 percent to 28.8 billion won, operating profits soaring 22.5 percent to 1 billion won. It posted ordinary and net profit worth 300 million won in the black, respectively. nw