Seoul: SK bioscience Co., a biopharmaceutical unit of South Korea's SK Group, announced on Tuesday a net loss of 56.4 billion won (US$39 million) for the fourth quarter, continuing its trend of financial losses compared to the previous year.

According to Yonhap News Agency, the company revealed in a regulatory filing that it recorded an operating loss of 51.6 billion won for the October-December period, a slight increase from the 50.8 billion won loss reported the previous year. Despite these losses, SK bioscience's sales showed a significant improvement, rising 17.4 percent to reach 184.2 billion won.