Emart, South Korea's largest discount retailer, said Wednesday that its third-quarter net profit fell 99.8% from a year earlier to 600 million won, as losses at Starbucks Coffee Korea and the online mall SSG.com absorbed gains at its own stores.

The result splits the company in two for investors. Emart's hypermarkets and warehouse clubs earned more in the quarter, but the affiliates it consolidates are eroding group earnings and leaving the parent's shareholders with a loss for the year so far. For funds that hold Korean consumer names as a play on domestic spending, the quarter shows how much affiliate trouble can outweigh a better core business.

Emart profit wiped out by affiliate losses

Consolidated sales rose 1.2% to 7.49 trillion won in the three months to September, according to a preliminary filing with the Korea Exchange, and were up 8.3% from the second quarter. Operating profit fell 69.6% to 46.1 billion won from 151.4 billion won a year earlier, though it was a return to the black after a 43 billion won operating loss in the second quarter.

Net profit dropped to 600 million won from 310.3 billion won. The share attributable to Emart's owners was a loss of 1.1 billion won, compared with a profit of 265.9 billion won a year earlier, the filing showed. Pretax profit from continuing operations fell 84.6% to 53 billion won.

A company spokesperson told Korea JoongAng Daily that losses at affiliates, including Starbucks Coffee Korea and SSG.com, had weighed on the quarter.

For the first nine months, sales slipped 0.6% to 21.53 trillion won and operating profit fell 45.4% to 181.3 billion won. The group swung to a net loss of 56.8 billion won from a profit of 362.6 billion won, and the loss attributable to owners reached 97.6 billion won.

Starbucks Korea loss deepens the hit

Starbucks Coffee Korea, in which Emart holds a 67.5% stake, posted an operating loss of 45.3 billion won in the third quarter, Korea JoongAng Daily reported. The newspaper attributed part of the loss to the continuing fallout from a May 18 online promotion called "Tank Day," which the chain suspended within hours after public criticism over its timing on the anniversary of the 1980 Gwangju uprising. Shinsegae Group Chairman Chung Yong-jin and Starbucks' U.S. headquarters both apologized.

The coffee chain also skipped its annual summer e-Frequency promotion this year as part of an effort to rebuild customer trust, which further reduced quarterly earnings, according to the report.

The core store business told a different story. On a standalone basis, Emart's third-quarter gross sales rose 11.1% to 5.1 trillion won and net sales also rose 11.1% to 4.75 trillion won, the company said in the same filing. Standalone operating profit increased by 52.5 billion won to 166 billion won, and standalone net profit rose by 395.5 billion won to 451.5 billion won. The filing did not break down the drivers of the standalone net figure and referred investors to its website for details.

The contrast with department stores is sharp. Shinsegae reported a record third-quarter operating profit a day earlier, driven by spending from foreign shoppers.

October sales slip on calendar effects

Emart also published its October sales on Wednesday, and they were weaker. Standalone gross sales fell 4.5% from a year earlier to 1.5 trillion won, according to a separate filing. Net sales fell 3.5% to 1.4 trillion won.

By division, discount-store sales dropped 5% (5.7% at existing stores) and Traders warehouse clubs fell 8.4%. Specialty stores rose 4.1% and the Everyday supermarket chain gained 5.5%.

The company pointed to the calendar. October 2026 had two fewer public holidays than a year earlier, and the Chuseok holiday fell on Sept. 25 this year against Oct. 6 in 2025. That shift moved holiday spending into September, when gross sales reached 1.76 trillion won.

Year to date, gross sales from January through October rose 4.5% to 15.76 trillion won, with Traders up 10% and discount stores up 2.6%, the filing showed.

The filings are preliminary and may change after the external audit, Emart said. Its next monthly sales disclosure, for November, would capture the start of the year-end shopping season and the first full month after the Chuseok distortion.