South Korean retail giant E-Mart said Wednesday that its net profit rose 6.7 percent in the third quarter from a year earlier, thanks to its faster-than-expected sales recovery from the pandemic and renewal of its outlet networks.

The company posted a net profit of 119.9 billion won ($107.9 million) in the July-September period, compared with a net profit of 112.4 billion won a year earlier, E-Mart said in a regulatory filing.

Operating profit hiked 30.1 percent on-year to 151.2 billion won, and sales increased 16.7 percent to 5.91 trillion won over the cited period.

The strong third-quarter earnings stemmed from balanced recovery in retail stores, online and offline, and effective renewal of its outlet business, E-Mart said.

The operating income of E-mart's conventional retail store business turned to the black for the first time since the fourth quarter in 2017, helped by strong grocery sales.

E-Mart Traders, a warehouse club-style outlet, particularly posted stellar performance, up 27.9 percent in sales and 83.2 percent in operating profit.

Operating losses in E-Mart's outlet businesses narrowed to 4.3 billion won from 16.1 billion won from a year ago. No Brand stores, one of the firm's key outlet operations, stayed in the black for three straight quarters, the company said.

"Despite the surrounding uncertainties, we successfully expanded our sales and operating income in retail stores and Traders, outlet stores and partner companies," the company stated.

Shares of E-Mart traded at 162,000 won as of 2:13 p.m. on the Seoul bourse, spiking 7.64 percent from the previous session. (Yonhap)