Hotel Shilla Co. on Friday reported its second-quarter net profit nearly tripled from a year earlier largely thanks to a recovery in post-pandemic tourism and management efforts.
Net profit for the three months ended in June came to 72.4 billion won (US$56.7 million), up 198 percent from 24.5 billion won a year ago, the company said in a regulatory filing.
The operating income rose 55.6 percent on-year to 67.2 billion won, but sales decreased 25.6 percent to 866.9 billion won.
The earnings exceeded market expectations. The average estimate of net profit by analysts stood at 29.1 billion won, according to a survey by Yonhap Infomax, the financial data firm of Yonhap News Agency.
Hotel Shilla said its sales and operating profit both went up in the April-June period, compared with the first quarter, thanks to the normalization of the tourism industry and management efforts to improve profitability.
The hotel said its travel retailer business saw its sales go up 16 percent on-quarter to 708 billion won thanks to an increase in domestic and foreign customers, and its accommodation and leisure business saw its sales rise 11 percent on-quarter to 158.8 billion won on the peak season.
Separate data from the Korea Tourism Organization, meanwhile, showed the number of foreign visitors to South Korea soared more than fivefold to 4.4 million in the first half from 810,000 a year earlier, accounting for 52.5 percent of the pre-pandemic level.
Source: Yonhap News Agency