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(LEAD) Kakao Pay-Q1 earnings
(LEAD) Kakao Pay turns to net loss in Q1
(ATTN: UPDATES throughout with details)
SEOUL, May 2 (Yonhap) -- Kakao Pay Corp., the online payment unit of South Korean tech giant Kakao Corp., said Tuesday it swung to loss in the first quarter due to increased operating costs.
Kakao Pay logged a net loss of 2.4 billion won (US$1.8 million) on a consolidated basis in the January-March period, turning from a profit of 3.8 billion won a year earlier, according to its regulatory filing.
Its first-quarter revenue rose 14.7 percent on-year to 141.5 billion won from 123.3 billion won, while its operating loss expanded to 13 billion won from 1.1 billion won a year earlier.
The company blamed the net loss on a rise in operating costs, which expanded 24.2 percent on-year to 154.5 billion won for the three-month period due to increased commission fees.
But its sales expanded 14.7 percent on-year thanks to its steady transaction service business as its volume of transactions jumped 19.5 percent to 32.5 trillion won in the first quarter.
The service's accumulated users topped 40 million as of end-March.
Shares in Kakao Pay rose 2.2 percent to close at 55,600 won on the main Seoul bourse Tuesday, outperforming the broader KOSPI's 0.91 percent gain.
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