SK Telecom Q4 net quadruples on reduced costs

SEOUL, Jan. 23 (Yonhap) -- SK Telecom Co., South Korea's leading mobile carrier, said Friday its fourth-quarter earnings almost quadrupled from a year earlier on reduced marketing costs.

Net income stood at 263.1 billion won (US$191.4 million) in the October-December
period, up from 66 billion won a year earlier, the company said in a regulatory
filing. The bottom line, however, was down 21 percent from three months earlier.
Sales rose 3.1 percent on-year to 3 trillion won in the fourth quarter and
operating profit soared 50.9 percent to 468.8 billion won, it said.
For all of 2008, the company's net profit tumbled 22.2 percent on-year to 1.6
trillion won due to increased marketing expenses and investment. Sales climbed
3.4 percent to 11.6 trillion won, but operating income fell 5.1 percent to 2.1
trillion won.
Shares of KT fell 0.94 percent to close at 210,000 won on the main bourse.
SK Telecom said the fourth-quarter net surged as it spent less money on marketing
than a year earlier. The company did not disclose the reason for the reduced
spending.
The bottom line for the entire year, however, sank due to increased marketing
expenses and investments totaling 5 trillion won, it said.
Due to the fierce competition for wideband code division multiple access (WCDMA),
expenses took up more than 26 percent of the company's revenue, the bulk of which
was spent in the first half of last year.
SK Telecom said it will pay a cash dividend of 8,400 won per common share.
As of the end of December, SK Telecom had 23.03 million subscribers, up 5 percent
from a year earlier.
The company painted a gloomy outlook for this year, saying that sales will remain
sluggish due to weak demand and severe competition, especially with rival KTF,
which recently agreed to merge with its parent KT, South Korea's top fixed-line
and Internet service provider.
ygkim@yna.co.kr
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