(KPL/Yonhap) Samsung Heavy Industries Co. said Thursday its first-quarter net profit shot up more than tenfold from a year earlier on the back of strong sales.

Net income for the January-March period reached 90.1 billion won (US$62.8 million), compared with 7.8 billion won a year earlier, according to the company in a regulatory filing.

The earnings beat market expectations. The average estimate of net profit by analysts stood at 60.6 billion won, according to a survey by YonhapInfomax, the financial data firm of Yonhap News Agency.

Its operating profit jumped 58 percent on-year to 123.1 billion won, and sales rose 6.2 percent to 2.49 trillion won.

"This is the result of a significant improvement in profitability while maintaining the trend of sales expansion," the company said.

Samsung Heavy also expressed optimism for the full year, citing continued growth in offshore construction expected in the second half to further boost operating profit.

The company said it is "on track" to achieve its annual earnings targets of 10.5 trillion won in sales and 630 billion won in operating profit set earlier this year.

So far this year, Samsung Heavy has secured $2.2 billion worth of orders, which account for 22 percent of its annual order target of $9.8 billion.

The company said it will continue to diversify its order portfolio, with a focus on high-value ships, such as liquefied natural gas (LNG) carriers and floating LNG facilities.

KPL