Major South Korean shipyard HD Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering Co. said Thursday its first-quarter loss narrowed sharply from a year earlier on strong sales.
Consolidated net loss stood at 81.1 billion won (US$60.6 million) in the January-March period, compared with a deficit of 293.2 billion won a year earlier, the company said in a regulatory filing.
Sales surged 23.9 percent on-year to 4.84 trillion won. It posted an operating income of 58.5 billion won, a sharp turnaround from a loss of 396.4 billion won a year ago.
HD Korea Shipbuilding, a subholding company of shipbuilding, oil refining and machinery conglomerate HD Hyundai, has three units under its wing -- Hyundai Heavy Industries Co., Hyundai Mipo Dockyard Co. and Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries Co.
Shares in HD Korea Shipbuilding closed 2.77 percent down at 84,100 won on the Seoul bourse Thursday, underperforming the wider market's 0.44 percent gain.
HD Hyundai Heavy Industries, the flagship of HD Korea Shipbuilding, swung to a net income of 50.2 billion won for the first quarter from a loss of 175.9 billion won a year earlier.
Sales jumped 31.5 percent on-year to 2.63 trillion won, with operating income reaching 36.1 billion won, compared with a loss of 217.4 billion won a year ago.
HD Hyundai said its first-quarter net income came to 192 billion won in the first three months of the year due to its lower earnings from its oil refining business, down 65.1 percent from a year earlier.
Sales spiked 35.2 percent on-year to 15.27 trillion won, with operating income sinking 24.1 percent to 610.9 billion won.
Source: Yonhap News Agency