Hana Financial Group Inc., South Korea’s No. 4 banking group, said Monday its second-quarter earnings fell 54 percent from a year earlier due mainly to the absence of a one-off stake gain.

Net income came to 225.1 billion won ($196.2 million) in the April-June period, compared with 489.8 billion won the previous year, said the group, which competed to buy the Korea Exchange Bank in February.

Hana Financial’s net profits include KEB’s earnings results.

In the second quarter of 2011, the group posted a one-time profit of around 137.4 billion won by selling its stake in Hyundai Engineering & Construction Co.

For the first half, the group’s net profit amounted to 1.54 trillion won, up 77.2 percent from a year earlier.

Sales rose 7.3 percent on-year to 5.63 trillion won in the last three months while operating profits declined 39 percent to 417 billion won. 

(Yonhap News)