South Korea’s machinery manufacturer Doosan Infracore Co. delivered its biggest quarterly operating profit in six years thanks to brisk excavator sales on the back of an infrastructure construction boom in China.

The company said in a regulatory filing Wednesday that its operating profit on a consolidated basis for the quarter ended June surged 23.8 percent on year to 214.7 billion won ($191.4 million). This beats market expectations by 15.3 percent and is the highest quarterly result since the second quarter in 2011 when the company reported 235.4 billion won. Sales gained 9.6 percent on year to 1.77 trillion won.

But its net profit fell 63.3 percent to 83.6 billion won from a year earlier when the company had a one-off gain of 181 billion won from selling its machinery tool business. When excluding this factor, the company’s net profit would have increased by 36.8 billion won on year, said Doosan Infracore.

As of 2:32 p.m., shares of Doosan Infracore were up 0.12 percent at 8,530 won.

The firm’s stellar performance was mostly driven by a surge in excavator sales from the world’s biggest market. In China alone, the company sold 6,095 excavators in the first six months of the year, more than double what it has sold in the year-ago period. The six-month figure has already exceeded full-year sales of 4,649 units in 2016 due to a construction boom in the country. Demand for its machines in emerging markets also remained strong, the company said.

Doosan Infracore presented a rosy outlook on its business in China, upping its full-year revenue estimate in the country on growing investment in infrastructure projects.

Doosan Bobcat Inc., the compact construction equipment making subsidiary of Doosan Infracore, posted an operating profit of 136 billion won on a consolidated basis, in line with market expectations of 131.5 billion won but down 9.3 percent from a year earlier. The on-year drop was largely attributed to a fall in sales in the North American region following disrupted operations from production line adjustments in the region, the company said.

As of 2:32 p.m., Doosan Bobcat shares were down 0.7 percent at 35,550 won.

By Ko Min-suh

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