Daewoo Shipbuilding books first Quarterly Profit in 4 years
South Korea's Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co Ltd posted its first quarterly profit in more than four years on Thursday, as on-time delivery of higher-margin vessels as well as cost-cutting measures helped the bottom line.
The world's largest shipbuilder in terms of orderbook reported an operating profit of 292 billion won ($257.57 million) for the January-March quarter, compared with an operating loss of 38 billion won a year earlier.
Revenue came in at 2.8 trillion won, compared with 3.5 trillion won a year earlier.
Renegotiating the terms of some offshore facilities, and continued asset sales and cost-cutting measures helped the shipbuilder to book its first quarterly profit since the fourth quarter of 2012, according to a revised account, the company said.
On-time delivery of higher-margin ships such as liquefied natural gas (LNG) carriers and very large container ships also firmed up the bottom line, Daewoo said, adding that it would deliver 30 or more LNG carriers by next year.
Already bailed out in the aftermath of the Asian financial crisis of the late 1990s and supported again in 2015, Daewoo unlocked a $2.6 billion bank bailout earlier this month to tide over a liquidity crunch, as bondholders accepted a painful debt-equity swap.
Reporting by Joyce Lee
