Samsung Heavy’s loss narrows in 2016 on cost-cutting measures

Samsung Heavy Industries Co., a major shipyard here, said Wednesday that its loss narrowed sharply last year from a year earlier largely thanks to its cost-cutting efforts.

Its net loss came to 139 billion won (US$119 million) last year, compared to a loss of 1.21 trillion won a year earlier, the company said in a regulatory filing.

Sales rose 7.2 percent on-year to 10.41 trillion won last year, while it suffered an operating loss of 147 billion won, sharply narrowing from an operating loss of 1.5 trillion won over the cited period, it added.

The shipbuilding industry, once regarded as the backbone of the country’s economic growth and job creation, has been reeling from mounting losses caused by an industry-wide slump and increased costs.

The country’s top three shipyards suffered a combined operating loss of 8.5 trillion won in 2015 due largely to increased costs stemming from a delay in the construction of offshore facilities and the industry-wide slump, with Daewoo Shipbuilding alone posting a 5.5 trillion won loss.

The shipbuilders have drawn up sweeping self-rescue programs worth some 11 trillion won in a desperate bid to overcome a protracted slump and mounting losses.
Source: Yonhap