Seoul: POSCO Future M on Thursday reported its second-quarter net income of 24.7 billion won (US$17.1 million), swinging from a loss of 35.5 billion won a year earlier.

According to Yonhap News Agency, the company, which is part of steel giant POSCO and specializes in the production of battery and advanced chemical materials, revealed in a regulatory filing that it posted 26.7 billion won in operating profit for the quarter. This marks a significant jump from 773 million won recorded a year ago. Sales increased by 2.8 percent, reaching 679.5 billion won.

The earnings exceeded market expectations, as the average estimate of net profit by analysts was 14.5 billion won, based on a survey conducted by Yonhap Infomax, the financial data firm of Yonhap News Agency.