Hyundai Heavy Q2 net drops 17 pct

SEOUL, July 20 (Yonhap) -- Hyundai Heavy Industries Co., South Korea's leading shipbuilder, said Wednesday that its second-quarter earnings sank 17 percent from a year earlier mainly due to increased prices of steel plates.
Net profit reached 539 billion won (US$511 million) in the April-June period, compared with a profit of 645 billion won a year earlier, the company said in a regulatory filing.
Sales surged 15 percent to 6.06 trillion won over the cited period, while operating income declined 10 percent to 677 billion won, it said.
Shares of Hyundai Heavy closed at 432,000 won on the Seoul bourse, down 3.89 percent. The second-quarter results were released after the market closed.
Hyundai Heavy said sales at its engineering and construction divisions increased, but higher prices of steel plates used for shipbuilding rose sharply, eating into overall profitability.
The bottom-line drop also resulted from declining revenue from its electric systems and renewable energy operations, it said.
sam@yna.co.kr