SEOUL, May 10 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's state power utility company Korea Electric Power Corp. (KEPCO) logged an operating profit for the third successive quarter due to higher electricity charges and lower fuel costs, the KEPCO said Friday.
Consolidated operating profit came to 1.3 trillion won (951 million U.S. dollars) in the January-March quarter, turning around from an operating loss of 6.18 trillion won (4.5 billion dollars) in the same quarter of last year.
The KEPCO continued to generate the operating profit since the third quarter of last year, but the first-quarter profit missed market expectations of about 3 trillion won (2.2 billion dollars).
Revenue grew 7.9 percent from a year earlier to 23.29 trillion won (17 billion dollars) in the first quarter.
Net income amounted to 595.9 billion won (435.9 million dollars) in the first quarter, turning black from a net loss of 4.91 trillion won (3.6 billion dollars) a year earlier.
The first-quarter profit was affected by higher electricity bills and lower fuel expense, but KEPCO cautioned that uncertainty remained over the won/dollar exchange rate and the global energy prices, caused by geopolitical risks in Europe and the Middle East. ■
