DL E andC Co. on Thursday reported its first-quarter net income of 26 billion won (US$18.8 million), down 72.3 percent from a year earlier.

Operating income for the January-March period was 60.9 billion won, down 32.5 percent from a year ago, the company said in a regulatory filing. Sales rose 2.2 percent to 1.89 trillion won.

The earnings fell behind market expectations. The average estimate of net profit by analysts stood at 55.2 billion won, according to a survey by Yonhap Infomax, the financial data firm of Yonhap News Agency.

Source: Yonhap News Agency