SK Innovation Co., Korea's top refiner, said Friday that its first-quarter earnings fell sharply from a year earlier due to adverse global chemical market conditions.
Net profit stood at 658.4 billion won ($580.6 million) in the January-March period, down 27.6 percent from 909 billion won a year earlier, the company said in a regulatory filing.
Sales moved up 10.4 percent on-year to an all-time quarterly high of 18.8 trillion won, but operating profit dropped 22.3 percent to 925.7 billion won.
SK Innovation said that the poor quarterly bottom line is attributable to the overall weakness in the chemical sector caused by sluggish economic conditions around the world. Also responsible were a slight drop in refining margins and an inventory gain.
The leading refiner, which has SK Energy Co., SK Global Chemical Co. and SK Lubricants Co. under its wing, said earlier that it is aiming to raise sales to 75.5 trillion won in 2012. (Yonhap)