The world's biggest shipbuilder Hyundai Heavy Industries made its first annual profit for three years in 2016, it said Thursday, after cutting thousands of jobs in an industry wide slump. Net income came to 682 billion won ($595 million) last year, a turnaround from a loss of 1.36 trillion won in 2015, the South Korean company said in a regulatory filing.
"Cost reduction and increased productivity contributed to the turnaround, even when the global market remains sluggish", a company spokesman told AFP.
But sales dropped 15 percent on-year to 39.32 trillion won.
The company underwent a severe corporate restructuring last year which saw some 2,500 workers laid off, its board members' salaries cut as much as 50 percent and assets sold for cash.
It also gained from equity ties with Hyundai Oilbank Co, its refining unit, as its efforts to streamline its business portfolio also paid off. Hyundai Heavy shares rose 1.38 percent to close at 146,500 won. The firm's last full-year profit came in 2013. Hyundai Heavy said in November it will split its non-shipbuilding businesses into separate companies to improve management efficiency.