(LEAD) Lotte Shopping Q1 net jumps on robust retail sales

Lotte Shopping Co., an affiliate of retail giant Lotte Group, said Thursday its first-quarter net profit jumped 26 percent from a year earlier due to robust sales at its discount store and supermarket outlets. Net profit for the January-March quarter rose to 72.86 billion won (US$53 million) from 57.78 billion won in the year-ago period, the company said in a statement. "Increased sales in the discount store and supermarket divisions propped up the quarterly bottom line, offsetting lackluster sales in the home shopping and e-commerce divisions," a company spokesperson said. Operating profit gained 2.1 percent to 114.87 billion won in the first quarter from 112.51 billion won a year ago. Sales fell 1.4 percent to 3.51 trillion won from 3.56 trillion won during the cited period. Lotte Shopping is the operator of South Korea's biggest department store chain and the third-biggest discount store chain. Source: Yonhap News Agency