STX Pan Ocean's Q2 profit jumps 50-fold

SEOUL, Aug. 11 (Yonhap) -- STX Pan Ocean Co., South Korea's leading bulk carrier, said Thursday that its second-quarter earnings expanded almost 50-fold from a year earlier on its cost-cutting efforts.
Net income came to 24.3 billion won (US$22.5 million) in the April-June period, compared with 503 million won from a year earlier, the company said in a regulatory filing.
Sales fell 14.8 percent on-year to 1.5 trillion won over the cited period while operating profit rose 19.1 percent to 52.3 billion won.
Shares of STX Pan Ocean ended up 3.77 percent at 6,890 won on the Seoul bourse.
STX Pan Ocean said its efforts to revamp its operations and reduce costs contributed to the bottom-line surge despite a rise in fuel prices and a slump in shipping cost.
In the first half of this year, the company swung to a net loss of 30.8 billion from a profit of 18.6 billion won a year earlier. Sales slipped 7.5 percent on-year to 2.9 trillion won in the January-June period and operating profit fell 79 percent to 10.7 billion won, it said.
brk@yna.co.kr