Seoul: Amorepacific Corp., South Korea's leading cosmetics firm, announced on Thursday that it experienced a net loss in the fourth quarter, primarily attributed to shareholding losses from its affiliate.
According to Yonhap News Agency, in the three months ending December 31, the company reported a net loss of 46.2 billion won (US$31.9 million), a significant shift from the net profit of 38.2 billion won recorded in the same period the previous year. This change was disclosed in a regulatory filing by the company.
A spokesperson for Amorepacific explained by phone that the quarterly net result was impacted by equity losses from its wholly owned skin care brand, COSRX. Amorepacific had acquired COSRX in the domestic market in 2023, and the brand's earnings began influencing the company's financial outcomes starting from May of the previous year.
Despite the net loss, Amorepacific experienced a substantial increase in operating profit, which rose to 78.48 billion won in the fourth quarter, compared to 20.67 billion won a year ago. This improvement was driven by strong sales performance in advanced markets. Sales for the quarter increased by 17.9 percent, reaching 1.09 trillion won from 926 billion won in the corresponding period of the prior year.
For the entirety of 2024, the company's net income more than tripled, amounting to 601.64 billion won, compared to 173.87 billion won the year before.