Hyundai Steel 2015 net down 5.5 pct on industrywide slump

SEOUL, Jan. 27 (Yonhap) -- Hyundai Steel Co., South Korea's No. 2 steelmaker, said Wednesday that its earnings dipped 5.5 percent last year from a year earlier due to an industrywide slump amid a slowdown in China and other major economies.

Net profit reached 739 billion won (US$615 million) on a consolidated basis last year, the company said in a statement.

Sales also sank 3.8 percent on-year to 16.13 trillion won last year, and operating income also was 1.8 percent down to 1.46 trillion won, it said.

The steelmaker said it saved some 446 billion won last year by cutting costs, with the sales of high-priced steel products rising 310,000 tons to 8.53 million tons last year.

"Our efforts to cut costs paid off last year, and we nimbly responded to a slump in the construction, shipbuilding and automaking segments," it said.

Hyundai Steel said it expects to sell 21.24 million tons this year, up 1.31 million tons from the previous year.

sam@yna.co.kr
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