Hyundais shipbuilding orders almost double this year

Hyundai Heavy Industries Co., South Korea's leading shipbuilder, said Friday that orders won in the first four months of the year almost doubled from a year earlier.

Orders reached $12.3 billion in the January-April period, up 93 percent from a year earlier, the company said in a regulatory filing.

Sales rose 20 percent to 8.29 trillion won ($7.66 billion) over the cited period, it said.

Last month, Hyundai Heavy reported a profit of 903 billion won in the first quarter, up 21 percent from a year earlier on increased new orders.

Shares of Hyundai Heavy closed at 473,500 won on the Seoul bourse, up 1.28 percent. (Yonhap)