Shipbuilding firm targeting $10 billion in sales in 2008

Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering Corporation, the world’s third-largest shipyard, said sales will rise to a record 9.9 trillion won ($10.5 billion) this year as it builds more vessels at higher prices. The company didn’t provide a comparative figure for 2007 in its regulatory filing yesterday in Seoul. The 2008 sales forecast is 41 percent more than the 7 trillion won it projected for 2007 in January last year.
Shipyards in Korea, the world’s largest shipbuilding nation, may report higher earnings this year as they deliver more vessels, as international demand continues to increase. Hyundai Heavy Industries Corporation and other rivals are expanding production capacity to work through more than three years of order backlogs.
“Earnings will continue to increase this year because the price per ton that is being built will be higher,” said Kim Soo-jin, an analyst at Hannuri Investment and Securities Corporation in Seoul. “The operating profit margin to sales is expected to reach a combined average of 11 percent for the shipbuilders this year, compared with 8.5 percent last year.”
Bloomberg