SEOUL, Feb. 1 (Yonhap) -- Samsung C&T Corp., the construction unit of Samsung Group, said Thursday its fourth-quarter net profit plunged 80 percent on the reduced value of assets in its trading business.
Net profit for the three months that ended Dec. 31 fell to 52.42 billion won (US$489 million) from 258.32 billion won a year earlier, the company said in a regulatory filing.
"An outside organization made a reevaluation of the company's mining rights of oil fields in North America. The reevaluation revised down the value of those assets, and the result was reflected in the bottom line," a company spokesman said.
Operating profit rose 34 percent to 283.25 billion won in the fourth quarter from 210.78 billion won in the previous year. Sales fell 2.2 percent to 7.765 trillion won from 7.943 trillion won during the same period, it said.
In contrast, the company posted a stellar performance in full-year earnings results as its fashion business turned around and it enjoyed increased equity gains from Samsung Biologics, a medicine manufacturer of Samsung Group, the spokesman said.
Samsung C&T businesses range from construction and trading to fashion and resort operations.
For the whole of 2017, net profit soared to 481.1 billion won from the previous year's 20.84 billion won. Full-year operating profit also jumped over six times to 881.27 billion won from 139.53 billion won. Sales rose 4.2 percent to 29.28 trillion won from 28.10 trillion won, the filing said.
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