South Korean internet portal giant Naver Corp. said Friday its operating profit growth slowed in 2022 from a year ago due to a one-off factor from business integration despite brisk sales in the content and commerce divisions.

Operating income stood at 1.3 trillion won ($1.05 billion) last year, down 1.6 percent from 2021, with sales of 8.22 trillion won, up 20.6 percent on year.

The company’s net profit plunged by 96 percent on year to 664 billion won due to a one-off factor stemming from a merger between its messaging company Line in Japan and Z Holdings in 2021.

Naver’s adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, which shows actual cash generation, was 1.8 trillion won, down 5.8 percent from the previous year.

For the fourth quarter of last year, Naver reported 2.27 trillion won in sales, up 17.8 percent from a year ago, with operating income down 4.2 percent on-year to 336.5 billion won.

As for sales by business division in the October-December period, Naver recorded 916.4 billion won in search platform, 486.8 billion won in commerce, 319.9 billion won in fintech, 437.5 billion won in content and 111.1 billion won in cloud.

The company’s flagship search platform saw its full-year sales grow 7.9 percent on year to 3.56 trillion won.

Commerce business posted 1.8 trillion won in sales, up 21 percent from the previous year.

Sales from the fintech division was also up by 21.2 percent on year to 1.18 trillion won on increased mobile payment through Naver Pay.

Content sales jumped 91.3 percent to 1.26 trillion won on year, while sales from its cloud business grew 5.3 percent on year to 402.9 billion won.

By Pulse

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