Major South Korean builder Hyundai Engineering and Construction Co. (Hyundai EandC) said Friday its second-quarter net profit fell nearly 6 percent, but it far exceeded market forecasts.
Net income stood at 212.4 billion won (US$165.7 million) for the April-June period, down 5.6 percent from a year earlier, the company said in a regulatory filing.
Sales, however, surged 28.4 percent to 7.16 trillion won, with operating income also soaring 27.4 percent to 223.6 billion won.
The second-quarter bottom line was higher than the average estimate of 129.4 billion won in a survey of analysts by Yonhap Infomax, the financial data firm of Yonhap News Agency.
Hyundai EandC said its second-quarter sales and operating income rose sharply as large overseas construction projects went into full swing amid increased revenue from its domestic housing sector.
In the first half of the year, its net profit sank 11.1 percent on-year to 362.9 billion won. Yet sales jumped 35.7 percent to 13.2 trillion won, with operating income climbing 14.5 percent to 397.1 billion won.
New orders came to 20.73 trillion won in the January-June period, down 1.4 percent from a year earlier and accounting for 71.3 percent of its yearly target of 29.1 trillion won.
Hyundai EandC said its order backlog stood at 95.3 trillion won as of end-June, which is enough to keep the company running for 4 1/2 years.
A company official said its sales are expected to continue to grow in the second half of the year thanks to increased revenue from large-scale projects at home and abroad.
Source: Yonhap News Agency