Gaining for 10 Consecutive Quarters
Dongkuk Steel Mill Co. posted 72.5 billion won (US$64.94 million) in operating profit in the third quarter in 2017, up 10.2 percent from the same period a year earlier and 33.3 percent from the previous quarter based on consolidated K-IFRS standards. The company showed an operating gain for 10 quarters in a row after the second quarter of 2015.
Dongkuk Steel Mill made a net profit of 12.6 billion won (US$11.29 million) in the third quarter, down 70.2 percent from the same period a year ago, but it returned to profit compared to the previous quarter. The company’s sales reached 1.55 trillion won (US$1.39 billion), showing an increase of 22.5 percent from a year earlier and 2.9 percent from the previous quarter.
Based on a separated standard, its operating profit grew 7.4 percent from the same period a year ago and 25.5 percent from the previous quarter to 53.7 billion won (US$48.09 million), reaching a record high of the year. Its sales dropped 22.2 percent from a year earlier and 3.2 percent from the previous quarter to 1.35 trillion won (US$1.21 billion). Its net profit showed the fall of a whopping 98.3 percent from the same period last year and 92.6 percent from the previous quarter to 1.2 billion won (US$1.08 million) as its profit from foreign currency transactions plunged.
According to Dongkuk Steel Mill, the company successfully established a stable profit structure of its steel businesses, such as cold rolled steel and bar shaped steel, through years of restructuring and saw both sales and profits increase due to the rise in steel product prices in the third quarter.
In addition, Companhia Siderúrgica do Pecém (CSP), a Brazilian joint venture between South Korean steelmakers POSCO and Dongkuk and Brazilian mining giant Vale, had accumulative sales of 1.9 million tons of steel slabs from the first quarter to third quarter this year, entering the stabilized operation stage. With the higher international slab demands and prices, CSP continues to have a favorable business environment. Dongkuk Steel Mill expects to use 150,000 tons of steel products from CSP in accordance with the development of strategic steel grades. The company will also continuously expand the usage according to the status of product development.