Hyundai sails back to quarterly profit

Seoul: The world’s biggest shipbuilder Hyundai Heavy Industries swung back to the black in the first quarter as cost-cutting efforts and a shift to high-end vessels paid off in the face of an industry-wide crisis, the South Korean firm said on Thursday. The global shipbuilding sector has been hammered by oversupply, wreaking havoc among both old and new suppliers. But Hyundai Heavy made a net profit of 462.2 billion won ($409 million) in the January-March period, it said. It announced its first annual profits for three years in February, but lost 314.5 billion won in the fourth quarter of 2016. — AFP