Hyundai Heavy posts Q3 loss of US$1.8b, expects worst year ever

Seoul

SOUTH Korea's Hyundai Heavy Industries Co Ltd, the world's biggest shipbuilder, slid to a record quarterly loss of US$1.8 billion and warned it's heading for its worst-ever year as cost overruns mount up in new business lines it developed to counter a global glut of low-margin ship orders.

Hyundai Heavy said on Thursday it slumped to an operating loss of 1.93 trillion won (S$2.3 billion) for the third quarter, from a 222.4 billion won profit a year earlier, as it soaked up rising costs caused by delays in building new types of ships in which it had little previous expertise.