GS Engineering & Construction said Monday that its first-quarter operating profit jumped more than fivefold compared to its profit on-year.


From January 1 to March 31, the company made a total of 380 billion won ($356 million) of operating profit, a 554.75 percent jump from the previous year, according to GS E&C. Its operating profit has been showing a positive figure for 16 consecutive quarters, it added. 

The company said a sharp increase in operating profit is attributable to constant gain from housing business as well as overseas plant planning projects. 

“Some clients demanded changes in the planning of plants they ordered from GS E&C such as in Saudi Arabia, which resulted in their additional payments for the changed orders and influenced the first quarter results,” said a GS E&C official.

The company said at least 180 billion won of purchase return were made in the first quarter, adding that additional purchase return resulting in one-off income from plant projects are expected. 

GS E&S’s sales rose 15 percent in the first quarter to over 3.1 trillion won from 2.7 trillion won in the same period last year, the company said.

By Kim Da-sol (ddd@heraldcorp.com)