NHN shifts to loss in Q2 on financial asset losses, increased marketing

NHN Corp., a leading South Korean information technology company, said Tuesday it swung to a net loss in the second quarter from a year earlier due to losses from its financial assets and increased marketing costs.

The company logged a net loss of 5.3 billion won ($4.1 million) on a consolidated basis in the three months ending in June, shifting from a net profit of 15.2 billion won a year earlier.

Operating profit tumbled 73.9 percent on-year to 5.2 billion won, while sales rose 12.8 percent to 511.3 billion won.

The second-quarter operating profit was 60.1 percent below the market average estimate, according to a survey by Yonhap Infomax, the financial data firm of Yonhap News Agency.

NHN attributed the net profit loss to the depreciation of company's financial assets and increased marketing costs over the rebranding of its gaming service and the launch of its webtoon service in France.

NHN said the volume of transactions over Payco Order, the company's digital payment service, increased 36 percent on-year.

The company said it expects sales from its games service to grow substantially in the third quarter, as the company recorded a 40 percent on-year sales increase in July thanks to newly-eased online board game regulations. (Yonhap)