Naver Q3 Profit Soars 38% to $378M, All Segments Show Growth

Philip Lee -

Seoul, South Korea—Naver Corp (035420. KS) reported that its third-quarter operating profit rose 38.2%, as all business segments showed growth.

Operating profit reached KRW 525.3 billion (US$378.3 million) for the July-September quarter, while revenue climbed 11.1% to KRW 2.72 trillion (US$1.96 billion). 

Operating margin expanded to 19.3% from 15.5% a year earlier.

By segment:

  • Search platform revenue: Up 11.0% to KRW 997.7 billion (US$718.4 million)
  • Commerce revenue: Up 12.0% to KRW 725.4 billion (US$522.3 million)
  • Fintech revenue: Up 13.0% to KRW 385.1 billion (US$277.3 million)
  • Contents revenue: Up 6.4% to KRW 462.8 billion (US$333.2 million)
  • Cloud revenue: Up 17.0% to KRW 144.6 billion (US$104.1 million)

Operating expenses increased 6.1% to KRW 2.19 trillion (US$1.58 billion), with marketing costs up 7.0% and infrastructure spending rising 13.2% due to increased GPU deployment.

The company's fintech division processed KRW 18.6 trillion (US$13.4 billion) in total payment volume, up 22.1% year-on-year, with non-captive payments growing 37.7% to KRW 9.6 trillion (US$6.91 billion).

Net profit jumped 48.8% to KRW 530.1 billion (US$381.7 million), aided by foreign currency gains from USD-denominated bonds.

The company completed a share buyback of 2,347,500 shares worth KRW 405.1 billion (US$291.7 million), which was set to be canceled on November 13.

At quarter-end, cash and cash equivalents stood at KRW 6.87 trillion (US$4.95 billion), while total borrowings were KRW 3.35 trillion (US$2.41 billion).

(US$1 = KRW 1,388.76)