[THE INVESTOR] Ailing shipyard Samsung Heavy Industries posted an operating loss of 283.7 billion won (US$253.18) in the April-June period, mainly because of workforce restructuring costs, the company said in its quarterly earnings report on July 29.

The fall, however, is an improvement from 1.54 trillion won loss a year earlier, up by 81.7 percent. 




For the second quarter, the Samsung affiliate logged net loss of 212.4 billion won, narrowing the loss from 1.15 trillion won on-year.

Sales, however, jumped 89 percent on-year to 2.72 trillion won.

“A one-off cost of 210 billion won involving voluntary retirement, was incurred during the period,” the company official said. “From the third quarter, costs will be reduced by 50 billion won each quarter as part of the restructuring plan,”

Samsung Heavy Industries, along with other major Korean shipyards, are currently under a wide-scale restructuring program, after being hit by an industry-wide slump and increased costs.

By Ahn Sung-mi (sahn@heraldcorp.com)