(LEAD) KEPCO Q1 net profit up 6.7 pct on cost-saving efforts

(LEAD) KEPCO-Q1 earnings

(LEAD) KEPCO Q1 net profit up 6.7 pct on cost-saving efforts

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SEOUL, May 13 (Yonhap) -- The state-run Korea Electric Power Corp. (KEPCO) said Wednesday its net income rose more than 6 percent from a year earlier in the first quarter, despite a limited increase in sales, thanks to its cost-saving efforts under an emergency management mode.

Net profit for the January-March period came to 2.51 trillion won (US$1.7 billion), up 6.7 percent from a year earlier, the company said in a regulatory filing.

Its operating profit rose 0.8 percent on-year to 3.78 trillion won, while revenue increased 0.7 percent to 24.39 trillion won.

In detail, the public utility company's electricity sales profit rose 0.1 percent on-year to 23.2 trillion won in the first three months of this year.

Its operating costs stopped short at adding 0.7 percent to 20.6 trillion won as the sharp rise in global oil and liquefied natural gas prices following the outbreak of the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran in late February was not reflected in first-quarter earnings.

The recent surge in global energy prices is expected to have an impact on the company's second-quarter earnings, KEPCO explained.

KEPCO said it was able to post a net profit in the first quarter thanks to its cost-saving efforts and measures to improve its fiscal stability, but the company is still facing 206 trillion won in debt, paying 11.4 billion won in interest every day.

KEPCO's financial troubles started when it continued providing electricity at prices below production costs, even as global energy prices surged between 2021 and 2023 due to the Russia-Ukraine war.

The Korea Electric Power Corp. headquarters in Naju, about 320 kilometers south of Seoul (Yonhap)

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