South Korea’s internet portal giant Naver Corp. Thursday announced that its first-quarter operating income fell 12 percent despite best-ever three-month revenue due to a spike in R&D spending in new technologies and investments in overseas ventures.

It disclosed an operating profit of 257 billion won ($238 million) on a consolidated basis, down 11.7 percent from the previous quarter and 11.6 percent against a year-ago period.

Revenue rose 3.4 percent on quarter and 21 percent on year to a best-ever figure of 1.31 trillion won.

Profit fell as the company turned eagerly towards new innovations and growth since the beginning of the year, recruiting more than 1,500 in AI and other technologies and investing in contents ad new business to fuel global campaign by Naver and its Japanese subsidiary LINE.

The internet giant pledged even more spending to keep ahead in the fast-changing environment.

During an investor relations conference, Naver Chief Executive Officer Han Seong-sook confirmed the company will further increase R&D spending this year, emphasizing investment into future technology is essential to its survival in the fiercely competitive global market.

Naver shares on Thursday ended 2.42 percent down at 725,000 won from the previous session.

Revenue from its advertisement business climbed 18.6 percent on year to 133.1 billion won in the January-March period, helped by improvements in mobile products and seasonal demands associated with the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympics, the company said.

Sales from its flagship commercial platform grew 16.1 percent on year to 592.7 billion won during the same period, helped by a strengthened mobile search engine and upbeat sales of search ads. Sales from IT platform soared 66.9 percent to 72.5 billion won from a year ago, driven by the stable growth of Naver Pay.

Sales from its content business climbed 19.8 percent on year to 29.6 billion won thanks to steady growth in webtoon and V LIVE video services.

The company’s second largest revenue generator LINE and other platform sector, including its social media app Snow, added 22.9 percent to 481.2 billion won in sales for the quarter over the same period.

By Seo Dong-cheol and Minu Kim

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