Hyundai Heavy turns to black in Q2 amid reduced costs

Hyundai Heavy Industries Co., a major South Korean shipbuilder, reported Wednesday that it swung to a net profit during the second quarter thanks in part to reduced costs and improvement in its non-shipbuilding business.

Net income came to 392 billion won ($345 million) in the April-June period on a consolidation basis, a turnaround from a loss of 242 billion won a year earlier, the company said in a regulatory filing.

Sales dropped 17.4 percent on-year to reach 9.86 trillion won, while it logged an operating profit of 557 billion won, a rebound from an operating loss of 171 billion won tallied in the same period the year before.

Eased burden from costs, a favorable currency market situation and an improvement in its non-shipbuilding business were cited as factors that boosted its second-quarter earnings.

The shipbuilder said gains from equity ties with Hyundai Oilbank Co., its refining unit, contributed much to its bottom line, and its efforts to cut costs and streamline its business portfolio also paid off.

Hit by an industry-wide slump and increased costs, Hyundai Heavy suffered 1.36 trillion won in losses last year following a drop of 2.21 trillion won a year earlier.

Hyundai Heavy closed at 115,000 won on the Seoul bourse, up 3.6 percent from the previous session's close, while the benchmark index, the KOSPI, shed 0.1 percent. (Yonhap)