GS Engineering’s net falls 24% in 3rd quarter

GS Engineering & Construction Corp., South Korea's third-largest builder, said Wednesday that its third-quarter earnings fell 24 percent from a year earlier due to unfavorable exchange rates.

Net income came to 79.4 billion won ($70.3 million) in the July-September period, compared with 102 billion won a year earlier, the builder said in a regulatory filing.

Sales increased 13 percent on-year to slightly over 2 trillion won in the three-month period, with operating income skyrocketing 61 percent to 181 billion won.

Shares of GS Engineering traded at 95,700 won on the Seoul bourse as of 11:37 a.m., up 1.59 percent from the previous session.

"The third-quarter bottom line suffered a setback because of exchange losses brought on by global financial sector concerns and market volatility," the company said.

The company also said that despite general uncertainties, fresh orders won in the third quarter reached 3.38 trillion won, up 1 percent from the same period a year earlier.

GS Engineering & Construction said it will be able to easily achieve its annual operating profit target of 639.6 billion won. (Yonhap)