Korea's major industries in the areas of shipbuilding, steel, machinery, construction, and petrochemicals underwent tough times last year, with the world's top-three shipyards including Hyundai Heavy Industries, Samsung Heavy Industries, and Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering all suffering a huge amount of deficits last year.
However, not every Korean company with specialty in these areas suffered an ordeal. Hyosung, OCI Materials, and SeAH Besteel were different. They have in common that they continued investment not for instant profits but for long-term growth potential. Their strategy of concentrating their investment on areas where they have strength paid off particularly when the market was down.
Hyosung, for example, achieved an operating profit of 950.2 billion won last year, the largest annual profit in its history. This remarkable results were attributable mainly to its overseas plants. Hyosung runs a total of 34 foreign plants which achieved a combined operating profit of 393.6 billion won last year, accounting for 41 percent of the company's total operating profit.
Its Vietnamese unit, for example, chalked up an operating profit of 183.7 billion won last year, accounting for 20 percent of the company's total profit.
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