[THE INVESTOR]  Major shipbuilders in South Korea are expected to see their earnings in the third quarter rise more than estimated, industry sources said on Oct. 19.

According to Korea Investment & Securities, Hyundai Heavy Industries is forecast to have logged an operating income of 264 billion won (US$235 million) in the third quarter of the year, on sales of 9.15 trillion won.

Samsung Heavy Industries, another major shipbuilder, may have racked up a third-quarter operating income of 52 billion won on sales of 2.33 trillion won.



But Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering is expected to have suffered losses in the July-September period, according to the brokerage house.

“Local shipyards’ earnings will improve after 2018, but we can conclude that their business results will not be further worsened,” said Lee Kyong-ja, an analyst at the brokerage house.

Recently, local shipyards have clinched a slew of deals to build oil tankers and LNG carriers, but it is too early to say that the sector is rebounding.

Hyundai Heavy has secured $2.3 billion worth of orders so far this year, far shy of its annual order target of US$13.1 billion.

Daewoo Shipbuilding, which set its annual order target at $6.2 billion, has clinched new orders worth US$1.3 billion, while Samsung Heavy has bagged some US$1 billion so far this year.

(theinvestor@heraldcorp.com)