Luxury, foreign shoppers drive Shinsegae to record first half

Shinsegae said Tuesday it posted its strongest-ever first-half earnings this year as investments in its department stores and efforts to streamline its affiliates improved profitability across major businesses. The retail giant reported sales of 6.36 trillion won ($4.5 billion) for the January-to-June period, up 10.1 percent from a year earlier. Operating profit jumped 75.7 percent to 365 billion won with both figures reaching record highs. In the second quarter alone, Shinsegae logged 3.14 tril