![Dongbu's headquarters building. [Provided by Dongbu]](https://wimg.heraldcorp.com/news/cms/2026/08/14/news-p.v1.20260814.ab3eb23403f04248bbfc971f043a5a07_P1.jpg)
Dongbu posted first-half sales exceeding 1 trillion won ($707 million), achieving top-line growth and improved profitability at the same time. Broader revenue from public works and advanced industrial facilities, combined with returns from its investment in HJ Shipbuilding & Construction, drove net profit for the period up 266.5 percent from a year earlier.
The construction company said Friday that its consolidated first-half sales reached 1.03 trillion won, operating profit 28.2 billion won and net profit for the period 39.1 billion won. Compared with the same period last year, sales rose 24.3 percent, operating profit climbed 69.2 percent and net profit surged 266.5 percent.
The improvement was even sharper in the second quarter. Consolidated second-quarter sales came in at 596.1 billion won, up 44.3 percent year on year. Operating profit jumped to 18 billion won from 1.6 billion won a year earlier — a more than tenfold increase — while net profit for the period reached 23.1 billion won, swinging from a loss in the second quarter of last year.
The earnings recovery was driven by broad-based revenue growth across public civil engineering, architecture, housing, and semiconductor and other industrial facility construction. Public infrastructure projects — roads, railways and ports — and public building sites moved into full swing, while revenue recognition from housing sites and semiconductor production and support facilities also increased. The housing segment contributed particularly to profitability, as cost ratios improved alongside rising sales.
Returns from the HJ Shipbuilding & Construction investment also bolstered the results. Dongbu's equity-method gain swung from a loss of 14.1 billion won in the first half of last year to a profit of 18.2 billion won this year, an improvement of about 32.3 billion won. The company attributed the turnaround to HJ Shipbuilding & Construction's expanded sales of high-value-added vessels, selective order-taking focused on profitability, and cost management gains in its construction division.
In the second half, Dongbu plans to maintain public infrastructure and public housing as a stable business base while increasing its share of semiconductor and other advanced industrial facility work and higher-margin private-sector projects.
Cumulative new orders for the year have also surpassed 2 trillion won. Dongbu said it intends to keep expanding new orders across its diversified portfolio — spanning public and private work, civil engineering and architecture, housing and advanced industrial facilities — and convert its order backlog into sales and profit.
"The first-half results reflect both the growth of our core business, centered on public works and advanced industrial facilities, and the investment returns from HJ Shipbuilding & Construction's strong performance," a company official said. "We will sustain this growth momentum in the second half through profitability-focused operations and a balanced order portfolio."
Meanwhile, Dongbu has secured a series of large public projects this year, including the Gyeyang–Ganghwa expressway, the Southern Inland Railway and the Goyang Changneung public housing development, while continuing to win private-sector contracts such as Seoul "Moa Town" and street-block redevelopment projects. In the semiconductor segment, work is under way on an expansion of the test building at Amkor Technology Korea's Songdo site and ancillary facility construction at SK Hynix's Cheongju Campus 4.
quq@heraldcorp.com
