GS Engineering & Construction posts W91.4b operating profit in Q2, down 43.6% on year

GS Engineering & Construction reported preliminary second-quarter sales of 2.78 trillion won ($1.9 billion) and operating profit of 91.4 billion won. Both figures declined from a year earlier — sales fell 13 percent and operating profit dropped 43.6 percent. Net profit for the period came in at 14.4 billion won.

By division, the building and housing unit posted sales of 1.54 trillion won, the plant unit 402 billion won, and the infrastructure unit 396.5 billion won. Building and housing division sales fell 28.5 percent from the year-earlier figure of 2.15 trillion won, as fewer construction sites broke ground amid a deteriorating housing market, though they rose 8.1 percent from the previous quarter's 1.42 trillion won. The plant division's sales grew 18.0 percent from 340.7 billion won a year ago, while the infrastructure division's sales rose 27.4 percent from 311.3 billion won. GS Engineering & Construction expects ground-breaking on newly supplied units to proceed in stages and anticipates that building and housing division sales will recover going forward.

New orders in the second quarter totaled 5.22 trillion won, up 61.7 percent from 3.23 trillion won in the same period last year.

The building and housing division secured contracts including the Sangwon District 2 redevelopment project (1.92 trillion won), the Macheon District 3 housing redevelopment project (1.01 trillion won) and the Ansan Seongpo-dong mixed-use complex project (641.6 billion won). In the first half of the year, the company won construction rights worth 7.47 trillion won in urban renewal projects, including the Seongsu Strategic District 1 redevelopment (2.15 trillion won), the Busan Gwangan District 5 redevelopment (970.9 billion won) and the Seocho Jinheung apartment reconstruction (679.3 billion won).

"Even amid an uncertain external environment, we are continuing to secure future business through our best efforts," a company official said. "We will pursue profitability-focused strategic management alongside building a stable business portfolio."