SEOUL– South Korean retail giant Lotte Shopping Co. saw its third-quarter business weaken in almost all of its business segments due to the fallout from the coronavirus pandemic, data showed Thursday.
Lotte Shopping’s operating profit in the July-September period came to 28.9 billion won (US$24.4 million), down 73.9 percent from a year ago, the company said in a regulatory filing.
On a consolidated basis, sales shrank 2.4 percent on-year to 4 trillion won during the same period, though net profit increased to 305.8 billion won from 3 billion won a year earlier, largely due to the base effect.
Lotte Shopping attributed the lackluster performance to a fall in most of its business segments, except for department stores and home shopping.
Sales of Lotte Department Store increased 11.7 percent to 656 billion won thanks to brisk sales in luxury goods and men’s sports products.
But its operating loss expanded to 21 billion won, affected by the recent restructuring in which about 500 workers applied for the company’s first-ever voluntary retirement program.
Lotte’s home shopping segment saw its sales rise 4.9 percent to 271 billion won, but its operating profit decreased 20 percent to 24 billion won.
Sales of Lotte Mart, the hypermart chain of Lotte, decreased 8.4 percent to 1.48 trillion won during the cited period, and operating profit dropped 50.5 percent to 12 billion won.
Sales of Lotte’s supermarket chain decreased 16.5 percent to 380 billion won.
Lotte Shopping said it posted weak performances in its supermarket and hypermart chains since they did not benefit from government-led consumption-boosting efforts.
In September, the government issued 250,000 won worth of subsidiary coupons that can be used at small stores and restaurants to the lower 88 percent income bracket.
Source: Yonhap News Agency