Major South Korean credit card issuer Samsung Card Co. said Tuesday its net profit soared nearly 23 percent in the first quarter of the year on a rebound in consumer confidence.

Net profit stood at 138.4 billion won ($124.7 million) in the January-March period, up 23.4 percent from a year earlier, the company said in a regulatory filing.

Operating profit jumped 23.1 percent on-year to 185.3 billion won, with sales rising 0.6 percent to 918.1 billion won.

Samsung Card attributed its stellar first-quarter performance to a recovery in consumer spending, a rise in the number of customers and efforts to cut costs.

The company said the ratio of card debt overdue 30 days or more was at a stable level of 1 percent for the three-month period.

Samsung Card said it will do its level best to maintain financial soundness and ramp up efforts to achieve continued growth this year despite the fallout of the protracted coronavirus pandemic.

Samsung Card is the credit card arm of Samsung Group, South Korea's top family-controlled conglomerate that also has smartphone and memory chip giant Samsung Electronics Co. under its wing. (Yonhap)