Kakao Corp., the operator of South Korea's top mobile messenger, said Thursday it swung to profit in the third quarter from a year earlier on a robust performance in its mobile-related business.

Net profit came to 14.76 billion won ($12.7 million) in the July-September period, compared with the 6.31 billion-won shortfall posted a year earlier, the company said in a release.

The result slightly hovered above the market's estimate of 12.8 billion won compiled by Yonhap Infomax, the financial arm of Yonhap News Agency, on 14 local brokerage houses.

Its operating profit reached 16.2 billion won, down 47.4 percent from a year earlier, while sales advanced 4 percent over the cited period to 229.6 billion won.

Kakao revealed the on-year comparisons only through a press release instead of a regulatory filing, since Daum Communications Corp. and then-Kakao Corp. merged in October last year.

The merged entity, which started as Daum Kakao Corp., changed its name to Kakao in October.

Mobile-related businesses accounted for 56 percent of its sales, the company said.

By sectors, Kakao's e-commerce business saw its sales advance 97.8 percent on-year to 15.3 billion won, on the back of the rising amount of goods traded through the KakaoTalk platform.

KakaoTalk, South Korea's most favored mobile messenger, is used by around 37 million users in the country with a population of 50 million.

Its advertising division's sales edged up 0.7 percent on-year to 142.9 billion won, while the gaming business suffered a 23.8 percent drop in sales to 51.4 billion won as it offloaded an affiliate, Onnet Co., in the third quarter.

Kakao said it has spent 213.4 billion won on new businesses, such as KakaoTaxi that kicked off earlier this year, which currently boasts 180,000 drivers with accumulated calls of around 37 million.

For the fourth quarter, Kakao said it will focus on what it calls the on-demand industry, which provides customized services to its users. The company also plans to merge various industries from finance to gaming to the mobile segment.

Shares of Kakao advanced 6.73 percent to 119,000 won, while the secondary bourse moved up 0.87 percent. The third-quarter report was released before the stock market opened. (Yonhap)