Seoul: Cosmax Inc. on Tuesday reported its first-quarter net profit of 10.6 billion won (US$7.5 million), marking a 45.8 percent decline from the same period last year. The company attributed the decrease to various market challenges encountered during the quarter.

According to Yonhap News Agency, Cosmax revealed in a regulatory filing that it achieved an operating profit of 51.3 billion won for the quarter, up from 45.5 billion won a year earlier. Despite this increase in operating profit, the company's sales rose by 11.7 percent to reach 588.6 billion won.

The reported earnings did not meet market expectations, as analysts had projected a net profit of 25.7 billion won, based on a survey conducted by Yonhap Infomax, the financial data subsidiary of Yonhap News Agency.