Seoul: Hanwha Aerospace Co. on Wednesday reported its first-quarter net profit of 209.4 billion won (US$146.8 million), spiking from about 3 billion won a year earlier. The company said in a regulatory filing that it posted 560.8 billion won in operating profit for the quarter, compared with 17.7 billion won a year ago. Sales rose 278.5 percent to 5.48 trillion won.

According to Yonhap News Agency, the earnings fell behind market expectations. The average estimate of net profit by analysts stood at 319.2 billion won, according to a survey by Yonhap Infomax, the financial data firm of Yonhap News Agency.