(LEAD) Samsung C&T Q3 net falls 9.5 pct on FX losses

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SEOUL, Oct. 28 (Yonhap) -- Samsung C&T Corp., the construction and trading arm of South Korea's Samsung Group, said Wednesday its third-quarter net profit fell 9.5 percent from a year earlier, weighed down by foreign-exchange losses.

Net profit for the three months that ended in September fell to 800.9 billion won (US$599.2 million) from 884.6 billion won a year ago, the company said in a press release.

"A strong won (against the U.S. dollar) drove down the translated value of foreign-currency assets in the third quarter, which weighed on the quarterly bottom line," a company spokesperson said.

Operating profit climbed 15 percent to 1.14 trillion won in the third quarter from 993.4 billion won in the year-ago period.

Sales increased 18.3 percent to 12 trillion won from 10.2 trillion won over the same period.

"The launch of large-scale projects to build domestic semiconductor plants and overseas data center and energy projects pushed up the operating result," the company said, projecting further growth in these divisions in the fourth quarter.

Higher profits from trading in key industrial materials also contributed to the quarterly results, it said.

The company raised its annual order target by 7 trillion won to 30.1 trillion won.

For the January-September period, net profit rose 19.3 percent to 2.8 trillion won from 2.35 trillion won a year earlier.

Operating profit increased 17.2 percent to 2.89 trillion won from 2.47 trillion won, while sales rose 15.2 percent to 34.47 trillion won from 29.9 trillion won.

kyongae.choi@yna.co.kr
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