SEOUL-- CJ Cheiljedang Corp. on Monday reported its first-quarter net profit of 247.9 billion won (US$194.6 million), up 13.3 percent from a year earlier.

The company said in a regulatory filing that it posted 435.7 billion won in operating profit for the quarter, compared with 385.1 billion won a year ago. Sales rose 13 percent to 6.97 trillion won.

The earnings exceeded market expectations. The average estimate of net profit by analysts stood at 164.2 billion won, according to the survey by Yonhap Infomax, the financial data firm of Yonhap News Agency.

Source: Yonhap News Agency