GS Retail Co. on Thursday reported its first-quarter net income of 38.8 billion won (US$28.4 million), up 118.4 percent from a year earlier. Operating income for the January-March period was 73.9 billion won, up 16.6 percent from a year ago, the company said in a regulatory filing. Sales rose 5.1 percent to 2.81 trillion won. The earnings beat market expectations. The average estimate of net profit by analysts stood at 35.7 billion won, according to a survey by Yonhap Infomax, the financial data firm of Yonhap News Agency. Source: Yonhap News Agency