Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME) has posted profit that has exceeded analysts' highest estimate, but is still down 30% year on year.
Net profit for the second quarter was KRW 145.3 bn ($119m), a 30% reduction on the KRW 206.2bn result seen a year ago.
Nevertheless, the net result beat the highest analyst estimate, which was KRW 97bn, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
"We were able to be in the black with cost-cutting efforts and productivity enhancement, but considering the business environment in the second half, we expect to have a difficult time," DSME said, quoted by South Korea's Yonhap news agency.
The South Korean shipbuilder had some return of bad-debt allowances in 2018, which accounts for the year-on-year decrease in earnings, a company spokesman told Yonhap.
Sales during the second quarter totalled KRW 2.15tr, a decrease of 7.6% compared to the same three-month period in 2018.
Operating profit fell by 15% year on year to KRW 194.83bn in the second quarter.
Six-month results down
DSME, which is set to merge with rival Hyundai Heavy Industries, has closed its first half with just one-third of its full-year order target secured, as TradeWinds has reported.
Contracts seven VLCCs and six LNG carriers — worth a combined $1.75bn — were booked during the six-month period, plus three military vessels.
This leaves the yard some way behind the contracts for 41 merchant vessels worth $5.73m it booked during the whole of 2018.
DSME logged a net profit of KRW 340.5bn during the first six months of 2019, down 21% percent from the same period last year.
Sales decreased 7.5% year-on-year to KRW 4.2tr and operating profit slipped 25.3% to KRW 394.4bn.
