Hanwha Systems Q4 net soars on one-off gains

Hanwha Systems, a Korean defense industry company, said Friday its fourth-quarter net profit skyrocketed from a year earlier due mainly to one-off gains from its affiliate.

In the three months ended on Dec. 31, net profit soared to 359.7 billion won ($248.4 million) from 19.66 billion won during the same period of 2023, the company said in a regulatory filing.

"The value of the company's holding of Hanwha Ocean stocks was reflected in the quarterly bottom line in one-off gains," a company spokesperson said over the phone

Hanwha Systems owns an 11.57 percent stake in Hanwha Ocean Co., formerly known as Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering. (DSME).

In May 2023, Hanwha Systems and four other affiliates completed their acquisition of a combined 49.3 percent stake in the shipbuilder for 2 trillion won to diversify their business portfolio.

Operating profit jumped 60.3 percent to 29.1 billion won in the December quarter from 18.1 billion won a year ago.

Increased exports of defense industry products, like multi-function radar (MFR) for the Cheongung-II medium-range surface-to-air missile (M-SAM) system and tactical communication networks (TICN), pushed up the operating income, the spokesperson said.

Sales rose 19.4 percent to 933.5 billion won from 781.9 billion won during the same period.

This year, the company said it will focus on exploring new markets to export more MFR for Cheongung-II systems and small synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellites.

For all of 2024, net income rose 29.7 percent to 445.2 billion won from 343 billion won the previous year.

Operating profit jumped 78.9 percent on-year to 219.3 billion won. Sales rose 14.3 percent to 2.8 trillion won from 2.4 trillion won.

Hanwha Systems is an affiliate of Korea's chemicals-to-shipbuilding conglomerate Hanwha Group. (Yonhap)