SEOUL (Reuters) -SK Innovation Co Ltd, owner of South Korea's top refiner SK Energy, said on Monday it expects solid refining margins to continue in the second quarter backed by firm demand.

The company posted an operating profit of 625 billion won ($454 million) for the January-March period, versus a 375 billion won profit a year earlier. That compared with an average analyst forecast of 466 billion won.

First-quarter revenue fell 1.5% to 18.9 trillion won from the same period a year earlier.

Shares in SK Innovation were trading up 1.3%, versus benchmark KOSPI's 0.6% rise as of 0007 GMT.

($1 = 1,376.4300 won)