Naver's Q1 Earnings Surge on Brisk Overseas Sales

Korea's leading online portal Naver posted record earnings in the first quarter of this year.

Naver said on Thursday that it posted W937.3 billion in sales and an operating profit of W256.8 billion in the three-month period, achieving new quarterly records. Sales rose by 26.6 percent on-year to surpass W900 billion for the first time, while operating profit grew by 32.1 percent.

The solid performance was largely due to growth in overseas sales. Naver's mobile messaging app Line, which is popular in Asian nations including Japan and Thailand as well as at home, posted a 20.9 percent increase in sales on-year.

"We recently started an advertisement service on Line, and that helped boost profits. Also, sales of Line character goods like stickers were brisk," a company spokesman said.

Overseas sales accounted for a record 36 percent of Naver's total sales in the quarter.