Hyundai Heavy Profit Falls
South Korea’s shipbuilding giant Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) announces a 49% drop in net profit for the second quarter following a slowdown in ship orders.
According to Yonhap, net profit for the three months that ended June 30 slumped to 69.2 billion won (US$62 million) from 137.5 billion won a year earlier. This setback is caused by a lack of orders for expensive newbuilds, says the company according to the report.
"Lack of high-end and profitable vessels was the main reason that cut into the quarterly bottom line," the report quoted a company spokesman as saying.
Operating profit fell 13 percent to 151.7 billion won in the second quarter from 175.7 billion won a year ago. Sales were down 23 percent to 4.629 trillion won from 6.076 trillion won during the same period, it said.
Shipbuilders have been struggling with declining orders amid a prolonged economic slowdown following the 2008 financial crisis.
