POSCO Co., South Korea's leading steelmaker, said Tuesday that it swung back to the black in the first quarter of this year on the back of gains from its asset sales and massive restructuring efforts, with its profitability also improving despite unfavorable business conditions such as low steel prices.

Net income came to 369.76 billion won ($341.3 million) on a consolidated basis during the January-March period, a turnaround from a loss of 210.14 billion won a year earlier, the company said in a regulatory filing.

Operating income remained almost unchanged at 731.24 billion won from a year earlier, while sales fell 2.2 percent to 15.1 trillion won over the cited period, it added.

Shares of POSCO closed down 0.78 percent to 253,000 won. The earnings results were announced after the market closed.

POSCO said that its operating profitability ratio improved slightly from 4.7 percent to 4.8 percent, largely thanks to its focus on high value-added products, including auto steel sheets, and a drive to sell non-core assets as part of its corporate restructuring efforts.

A gas field in Myanmar being developed by Daewoo International, a trading arm of POSCO, started to reach its full-operation phase in December, also helping to stabilize the overall profitability in its energy business, the company added.

If earnings from its affiliates are uncounted, POSCO's first-quarter net profit more than quadrupled to 499.76 billion won. Its operating profit rose 20.1 percent on-year to 622 billion won, while sales declined 7.8 percent to 6.79 trillion won. (Yonhap)