South Korea’s Lotte Engineering & Construction Co. posted all-time high quarterly earnings in the first quarter of this year, thanks to its successful risk management efforts on top of the local housing construction boom.

The Korean constructor in a regulatory filing on Sunday reported that its operating profit from January to March this year hit a record quarterly high of 115.7 billion won ($108.3 million), surging 17.8 percent against a year earlier. Its revenue jumped 15.9 percent on year to 1.3 trillion won over the cited period.

The company attributed its stellar performance to the local housing construction boom in recent years, as well as its risk management system that helped the company succeed in selling most of its newly built homes.

Last year, the company logged the highest-ever operating profit of 377.1 billion won and revenue of more than 5 trillion won for the first time among Korean builders. Its operating margin stood at 6.95 percent, placing the company as the third-best among Korea’s top 10 constructors. As of the end of March, its debt ratio was at 141 percent, the lowest in Korean construction industry and net debt shrank to 580.4 billion won from 1.1 trillion won in 2014.

The company’s sales outlook remains bright as most of its new apartments are located in prime locations in the country’s capital and other major cities, said an official from the company.

The builder aims to earn 8 trillion won in new order volume and 6.1 trillion won in revenue this year, according to the company. The company seeks to achieve the goals partly by expanding its presence in the global home building market. It has recently set Indonesia and Vietnam as its strategic foreign markets for its overseas expansion. Currently, it is constructing a shopping mall in Jakarta, Indonesia and putting efforts stably build up its business portfolio.

By Chung Soon-woo and Cho Jeehyun

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