SEOUL, Korea Investment Holdings Co. on Tuesday reported its first-quarter net profit of 342.4 billion won (US$251.7 million), up 13.7 percent from a year earlier.The company said in a regulatory filing that operating profit for the January-March period rose 18 percent on-year to 381.6 billion won. Sales decreased 22.1 percent to 6.68 trillion won.The earnings exceeded market expectations. The average estimate of net profit by analysts stood at 234 billion won, according to a survey by Yonhap Infomax, the financial data firm of Yonhap News Agency.Source: Yonhap News Agency