SEOUL-- LG Uplus Corp., South Korea's No. 3 mobile carrier, said Friday its 2022 net profit fell from a year earlier due to increased financial costs.

Its net income reached 662.6 billion won (US$540.8 million) for 2022, down 8.5 percent from a year ago, the company said in a regulatory filing.

Its operating profit gained 10.4 percent on-year to 1.08 trillion won, surpassing the 1 trillion-won threshold for the first time. Its annual sales rose 0.4 percent on-year to 13.9 trillion won.

LG Uplus attributed the on-year decline in net income to increased financial expenses amid a hike in interest rates.

Sales at its mobile business inched up 2.1 percent to 6.2 trillion won last year. The number of its mobile subscribers gained 10.6 percent on-year to 19.89 million as of end-2022, with its 5G network users accounting for 53.5 percent of the total.

The company's smart home business also saw its sales rise 6.4 percent to 2.3 trillion won thanks to an increase in IPTV and high-speed internet subscriptions.

For the fourth quarter, LG Uplus posted quarterly sales of 3.61 trillion won, nearly unchanged from a year ago.

Its operating profit soared 81.1 percent on-year to 286.6 billion won in the October-December period, while the company saw its net profit jump 56.6 percent to 159.4 billion won.

The fourth-quarter earnings beat market expectations. The average estimate of net profit by analysts stood at 147.9 billion won, according to a survey by Yonhap Infomax, the financial data firm of Yonhap News Agency.

Shares of LG Uplus rose 0.73 percent to close at 11,090 won, outperforming the broader KOSPI's 0.47 percent gain.

Source: Yonhap News Agency