SEOUL, Meritz Financial Group Inc. on Tuesday reported its first-quarter net profit of 591.3 billion won (US$431.9 million), down 2.1 percent from a year earlier. The company said in a regulatory filing that it posted 770.8 billion won in operating profit for the quarter, compared with 806.8 billion won a year ago. Sales fell 28.2 percent to 12.56 trillion won. Source: Yonhap News Agency