K-beauty shines globally, but big players face growing pains

Korean beauty’s export boom shows no signs of slowing, with shipments through September nearly matching last year’s total. But third-quarter earnings at the industry’s biggest players paint a less rosy picture. APR, Korea’s most valuable beauty company worth roughly 10 trillion won ($7.35 billion), led the pack. It doubled its third-quarter sales to a record 773.1 billion won and lifted operating profit 69 percent to 160.6 billion won, with overseas markets supplying 94 percent of revenue. Despi