SEOUL, Hanwha Aerospace Co., a defense industry unit of South Korea’s Hanwha Group, said Tuesday its first-quarter net profit plunged over 99 percent from a year ago.

Net profit for the January-March period came to 3.1 billion won (US$2.2 billion) on a consolidated basis, down 99.3 percent from last year, the company said in a regulatory filing.

Operating profit dropped 83.2 percent to 37.4 trillion won, and sales also fell 9.3 percent to 1.84 trillion won.

The earnings failed to meet market expectations. The average estimate of net profit by analysts stood at 66.8 billion won, according to a survey by Yonhap Infomax, the financial data firm of Yonhap News Agency.

Hanwha said it logged a 22 percent sales decrease in its defense business division due to the drop in shipments related to the company’s arms exports to Poland. The company is scheduled to resume exports of the K-9 self-propelled howitzers in the second quarter.

The company’s aviation business division recorded a 14 percent sales increase, dri
ven by an increase in demand for passenger aircraft engines. Operating profit for the division, however, dropped 82 percent to 2.9 billion won.

A Hanwha Aerospace official said the company anticipates an improved earnings performance for 2024, as it expects increased exports to Poland starting in the second quarter and looks forward to positive results in the company’s pending self-propelled howitzer project in Romania.

Source: Yonhap News Agency