Korea Gas swings to loss in Q4 on higher costs

By Nam Kwang-sik
SEOUL, Feb. 12 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's state-run Korea Gas Corp. said Thursday
that it swung to a loss in the fourth quarter of last year due to increased
costs.
Net loss came to 52.7 billion won (US$38 million) in the October-December period,
compared with a profit of 206 billion won a year ago, Korea Gas said in a
regulatory filing.
Sales rose 67 percent on-year to 8.1 trillion won, but the company posted an
operating loss of 30.2 billion won, a sharp turnaround from an operating profit
of 323.4 billion won a year ago.
The company said full-year net profit fell 9.3 percent on-year to 330 billion won
in 2008. Sales, however, jumped 62.4 percent to 23.2 trillion won last year and
operating profit rose 0.3 percent to 635.6 billion won.
ksnam@yna.co.kr
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