Seoul: S-Oil on Monday reported its first-quarter net profit of 721 billion won (US$491.1 million), shifting from a loss of 44.6 billion won a year earlier. Operating income for the January-March period stood at 1.23 trillion won, compared with a loss of 21.5 billion won a year ago, the oil refiner said in a regulatory filing. Revenue backtracked 0.5 percent to 8.94 trillion won.

According to Yonhap News Agency, the operating profit was 7.7 percent higher than the average estimate, based on a survey conducted by Yonhap Infomax, the financial data firm of Yonhap News Agency. The estimate of the net profit was not available.