Seoul: BNK Financial Group on Friday reported its fourth-quarter net income of 50.3 billion won (US$34.2 million), up 75.3 percent from a year earlier.

According to Yonhap News Agency, the company said in a regulatory filing that it posted 60.6 billion won in operating profit for the quarter, compared with 28.6 billion won a year ago. Sales fell 0.2 percent to 2.6 trillion won.

The earnings exceeded market expectations. The average estimate of net profit by analysts stood at 44.4 billion won, according to a survey by Yonhap Infomax, the financial data firm of Yonhap News Agency.