Hyundai Heavy Industries Co., a major South Korean shipyard facing a large-scale corporate restructuring, is expected to have posted a profit during the first quarter of the year, brokerage and industry sources said Sunday.

According to the sources, Hyundai Heavy Industries will likely post a profit ranging from 78 billion won ($68.2 million) to 270 billion won during the January-March period. The shipyard is scheduled to disclose its earnings on Tuesday.

Its smaller rivals -- Samsung Heavy Industries Co. and Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co. -- were projected to have logged 30-40 billion won in profit and 19-40 billion won in losses, respectively.

The expected profit for Hyundai Heavy is partly attributable to the company's action taken last year to reflect its massive losses in the bottom line.

Hit by an industrywide slump and increased costs, Hyundai Heavy suffered a second consecutive year of deficit with 1.36 trillion won in losses in 2015 following a drop of 2.21 trillion won a year earlier.

Its shipbuilding business remained in the doldrums in the first quarter when it received $1.74 billion worth of ship orders, down 42 percent from a year earlier.

In the face of tough business conditions, Hyundai Heavy is reportedly pushing to cut more than 10 percent of its workforce this year. It is expected to unveil detailed restructuring efforts also including the sale of non-core assets this week, market watchers said. (Yonhap)