AmorePacific Corp., South Korea's dominant cosmetics company, said Thursday its net profit fell 16 percent in 2018 from a year earlier on weak domestic demand and one-off costs.

Last year, net profit fell to 334.8 billion won ($307 million) from 398 billion won in 2017 due to fierce competition from rivals and increased labor costs, the company said in a statement. 



In 2019, the company aims to achieve a 24 percent growth in operating profit and a 10 percent sales growth by putting greater focus on new markets, such as Australia, India, the Philippines and the Middle East, it said.  

Operating profit declined 19 percent to 482 billion won from 596.4 billion won during the same period. Sales gained 3 percent to 5.278 trillion won from 5.124 trillion won. (Yonhap)