Seoul: Naver Corp., South Korea's largest online portal operator, announced a significant decline in its first-quarter net profit, revealing a 31.3 percent decrease compared to the previous year. This downturn was primarily attributed to foreign exchange losses impacting the company's financial performance.

According to Yonhap News Agency, Naver's net profit for the three months ending in March dropped to 291 billion won (US$195.9 million) from 423.7 billion won in the corresponding period last year. The company disclosed this information in a regulatory filing, highlighting the challenges faced due to currency fluctuations.

A company spokesperson explained that the decline was mainly due to increased translation losses on the company's dollar-denominated debt when converted into the local currency. Despite this setback, Naver reported a 7.2 percent rise in operating profit, which amounted to 541.8 billion won in the first quarter, up from 505.3 billion won a year earlier. Additionally, sales saw an increase of 16.3 percent, reaching 3.24 trillion won from 2.78 trillion won over the same timeframe.

The financial outcome, however, did not meet market expectations. A survey conducted by Yonhap Infomax, the financial data arm of Yonhap News Agency, had projected an average net profit estimate of 513.7 billion won, underscoring the shortfall in Naver's reported results.