South Korea’s largest steelmaker Posco reported its third-quarter operating profit increased 9 percent on year thanks to a recovery in its mainstay steelmaking business, in particular, in overseas markets.

The company said in a regulatory filing on Thursday that it has earned 1.1 trillion won ($977.3 million) in operating profit on a consolidated basis in the July-September period, up 8.8 percent from a year ago. Its sales rose 18.0 percent to 15.04 trillion won over the same period, while net profit nearly doubled to 906.6 billion won. From a previous quarter, Posco’s operating profit gained 15 percent, while net profit soared about 70 percent.

The growth in the company’s profits was mainly driven by the ongoing recovery in its steel business. In particular, recent stellar performance of its overseas operations is noticeable.

Zhangjiagang Pohang Stainless Steel Co., Posco’s production subsidiary in China, has raked in 53.8 billion won in operating income in the third quarter, up a whopping 572.5 percent from the second quarter ended June. PT Krakatau Posco, an operator of an integrated steel mill in Indonesia, swung to profit in the cited period after earning an operating profit of 8.8 billion won. Posco SS Vina Co., a manufacturer of shape steel in Vietnam, also managed to reduce operating losses by a large margin.

Its non-steel units including of energy, as well as information and communications technology businesses also continued to report solid earnings.

Posco remained upbeat about global steel demand in the upcoming quarter, citing capacity streamlining in China, which has significantly eased oversupply, and steady demand from emerging and developing countries.

The steelmaker revised up its sales forecast for full 2017 to 28.8 trillion won from the earlier estimate of 25.6 trillion won, while reducing its annual investment cost to 2.3 trillion won from 2.6 trillion won.

Posco shares closed Thursday at 331,500 won, down 5,500 won or 1.63 percent from the previous session.

By Moon Ji-woong, Chung Woo-sung, and Lee Eun-joo

[ⓒ Pulse by Maeil Business News Korea & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]