Hyundai Department Store Co. on Thursday reported its first-quarter net profit of 70.8 billion won (US$51.7 million), up 1.9 percent from a year earlier.The company said in a regulatory filing that it posted 68.9 billion won in operating profit for the quarter, compared with 77.9 billion won a year ago. Sales fell 13.3 percent to 951.7 billion won.The earnings exceeded market expectations. The average estimate of net profit by analysts stood at 51.5 billion won, according to a survey by Yonhap Infomax, the financial data firm of Yonhap News Agency.Source: Yonhap News Agency