Recently, Samsung Heavy Industries released its first-quarter performance report for this year, achieving operating revenue of 2,902.3 billion KRW (approximately 1.974 billion USD, 13.437 billion RMB), a year-on-year increase of 16.4%; achieving operating profit of 273.1 billion KRW (approximately 186 million USD, 1.264 billion RMB), a year-on-year increase of 121.9%; achieving net profit of 100.1 billion KRW (approximately 68.08 million USD, 463 million RMB), a year-on-year increase of 11.1%. The operating profit margin was approximately 9.4%, higher than the average operating profit margin of 8% for the full year 2025.
In the first quarter of 2024, Samsung Heavy Industries achieved operating revenue of 2,347.8 billion KRW (approximately 1.706 billion USD), a year-on-year increase of 46.3%; achieving operating profit of 77.9 billion KRW (approximately 57 million USD, about 413 million RMB), a year-on-year increase of 297.4%, with an operating profit margin of 3.3%. In the first quarter of 2025, the company achieved operating revenue of 2,494.3 billion KRW (approximately 1.736 billion USD, 12.66 billion RMB), a year-on-year increase of 6.2%; achieving operating profit of 123.1 billion KRW (approximately 85.67 million USD, 625 million RMB), a year-on-year increase of 58%, with an operating profit margin reaching 4.9%, an increase of 1.6 percentage points year-on-year. Looking at the first-quarter operating profit margins over the past three years, the company’s profitability is significantly improving.
Samsung Heavy Industries stated that its shipbuilding business maintains a steady growth trend driven by the increased construction of high-profit main ship types such as LNG carriers and the global production layout diversification strategy; in the marine engineering business, as FLNG (Floating Liquefied Natural Gas production and storage offloading) projects such as Malaysia ZLNG, Canada Cedar, and Mozambique Coral enter the substantive construction phase, this also supports revenue growth. Based on this, the company expects to achieve its full-year revenue target of 12.8 trillion KRW (approximately 8.7 billion USD, 59.3 billion RMB) relatively smoothly.
However, despite a quarter-on-quarter increase in first-quarter operating revenue of 64.4 billion KRW, the achieved operating profit of 273.1 billion KRW was not only approximately 18.5% lower than the market expectation of 335 billion KRW (approximately 228 million USD, 1.55 billion RMB) compiled by Yonhap News Agency, but also lower than the company’s operating profit of 296.2 billion KRW in the fourth quarter of last year, a quarter-on-quarter decrease of about 7.8%.
In response, a Samsung Heavy Industries official said: “Starting from the second quarter, with the increase in the number of new high-value-added vessels such as LNG carriers under construction, the company’s operating revenue will further grow. Relying on a sufficient order backlog exceeding three years, the company will further consolidate the capability foundation for stable profitability.”
A Samsung Heavy Industries official said: “This year, the company also looks forward to achieving visible results with U.S. shipyards on the Korea-U.S. shipbuilding cooperation project ‘MASGA (Make American Shipbuilding Great Again)’. Through a selective order-taking strategy centered on profitability, the company will maintain a strong growth trend.”
South Korean securities institutions generally predict that Samsung Heavy Industries will achieve operating revenue of 12.8 trillion KRW this year, operating profit of 1,484.8 billion KRW (approximately 1 billion USD, 6.95 billion RMB), a year-on-year increase of about 66%, and an operating profit margin of 11.6%.
Meanwhile, Korea Investment & Securities (KIS) predicts that, thanks to the simultaneous improvement in revenue from offshore equipment and high-priced commercial vessels, Samsung Heavy Industries’ actual operating profit will exceed the general market forecast by more than 30%. It is expected that Samsung Heavy Industries’ operating profit this year will reach 1,700.6 billion KRW (approximately 1.157 billion USD, 8.1 billion RMB), a surge of 89% year-on-year, with a profit margin close to 14%.
