Naver expected to post strong profits

[THE INVESTOR] Korea's internet giant Naver is expected to have maintained a sturdy profit growth in the April-June period thanks to its robust online advertising business, according to market reports.

The Pangyo-headquartered Internet firm will likely post 270 billion won (US$237.50 million) operating profit in the second quarter, up 50 percent from the same period in 2015, while its revenue will increase to 983 billion won, up from 937.3 billion won in the first quarter, according to research firm WISEfn.

The research firm attributed the anticipated profit and revenue increases to the strong advertising sales.

Some market experts expect that the company will likely post more than 1 trillion won of revenue in the following quarters thanks to the strong sales of its mobile messenger subsidiary LINE.

The mobile messenger firm was recently listed in Tokyo and New York.

“There is enough room for sales growth as many of Naver’s services, including its video streaming platform and the mobile messenger, do not carry ads,” said Lee Seong-bin, an analyst from Kyobo Securities, said in his report.

LINE is slated to release its second-quarter earnings on July 27, followed by Naver’s earnings announcement on July 28.

By Kim Young-won (wone0102@heraldcorp.com">wone0102@heraldcorp.com)