Hyundai E&C first quarter net profit up 38.4% as LG raises $800 million in bond deals

Hyundai Engineering & Construction Co. (Hyundai E&C) said yesterday its first-quarter earnings jumped nearly 40 per cent on strong housing and overseas business.

Consolidated net profit came to 208.4 billion won (US$150.8 million) in the January-march period, up 38.4 per cent from a year earlier, the company said in a regulatory filing.

Operating profit surged 44.6 per cent on-year to 250.9 billion won, and revenue spiked 41.7 per cent to 8.55 trillion won.

The first-quarter operating profit was 23.5 per cent higher than a median market estimate of 203.1 billion won in a survey by Yonhap Infomax, the financial data firm of Yonhap News Agency.

First-quarter sales accounted for nearly 29 per cent of its full-year revenue target of 29.7 trillion won.

Hyundai E&C said brisk domestic housing business combined with resilient overseas projects generated stellar sales and earnings for the last quarter.

In the first three months of the year, Hyundai E&C won orders worth 9.52 trillion won, up 60.3 per cent from a year earlier and amounting to some 33 per cent of the full-year order goal of 29 trillion won.

As of end-march, its order backlog stood at 91.25 trillion won, up 1.7 per cent from three months earlier.

Hyundai E&C shares closed 2.62 per cent up at 33,250 won ($24.1) on the Seoul bourse, outperforming the broader Korea Composite Stock Price Index's 1.63 per cent drop.

LG raises funds

Tech giant LG Electronics Inc. said it has successfully raised a total of US$800 million in a dollar bond deal.

The bonds, denominated in US dollars, were issued in two tranches: a three-year bond worth $500 million and a five-year sustainability bond totalling $300 million, according to LG Electronics.

The interest rates for these bonds were set at 95 basis points and 110 basis points over the US Treasury rates of the same maturity for the three-year and five-year tranches, respectively.

LG Electronics said these rates were 40 basis points lower than the initially proposed spread, underscoring the strong demand from investors.

It is the South Korean company's first public foreign bond deal in 12 years and its first dollar-denominated bond deal in 17 years.

LG Electronics said its solid performance and financial stability have appealed to global investors despite global market challenges.

The company, known as one of the largest home appliance makers in the world, has been actively diversifying its business portfolio, venturing into electric vehicle components, business-to-business services and platform-based solutions.

LG Electronics said the proceeds from the three-year bond will be used for strengthening its future competitiveness, including research and development and facility investments, while funds raised from the five-year sustainability bond will be spent on green and social projects.