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Smooth sailing in Q1 for top shipbuilders on strong sales growth

Published: 26 Apr. 2024, 19:06

LPG carrier built by HD Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore is on a test-run Engineering. [YONHAP]

The country's top shipbuilders, HD Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering, Samsung Heavy Industries and Hanwha Ocean, impressed the market with stellar sales growth in the first quarter thanks to a hike in ship prices and reduced production costs.

HD Korea, the world’s largest shipbuilder by orders, said in a press release on Thursday that it posted an operating profit of 160.2 billion won ($116 million) in the January-March period, successfully turning to the black from a loss of 19 billion won in the same period last year.

Revenue increased 13.9 percent to 5.51 trillion won. Its net profit was 193.3 billion won, the company said in a press release.

Despite the on-quarter reversal, the shipbuilder could not meet the market expectation of 222.8 billion won in operating profit and 6.1 trillion won in sales, according to market tracker FnGuide.

The company stated that it saw a boost in its overall revenue as the sales of high-value added ships, such as environmentally friendly dual-fuel vessels, were reflected in the performance. The increase in ship prices and reduced costs in production resulted in the significant jump in operating profit.

Samsung Heavy Industries on Friday reported a first quarter operating profit of 77.9 billion won, up 297.4 percent from a year ago, in a regulatory filing. Revenue rose 46.3 percent to 2.34 trillion won. The company’s net profit was 7.8 billion won, down 16.1 percent from the corresponding figure a year ago.

FnGuide had forecast operating profit of 85.8 billion won and revenue of 2.3 trillion won.

Hanwha Ocean, meanwhile, reported that its operating profit for the January-March period came to 52.9 billion won on Wednesday, a great improvement over a loss of 62.8 billion won a year earlier, according to its regulatory filing. Revenue reached 2.28 trillion won, up 58.6 percent on year. Its net income rose to 51 billion won from a loss of 120.4 billion won last year.

The figure fell short of market expectations by a narrow margin, which predicted 2.4 trillion won in sales and 55.2 billion won in operating profit, FnGuide said.

Hanwha Ocean stated that management performance had improved owing to increased sales, improved profits and the exchange rate effect caused by the increased production of high-value added ships such as liquefied natural gas carriers.

BY CHOI HAE-JIN [[email protected]]