POSCO Holdings Co. saw its operating profit drop by more than 17 percent in the first quarter from a year ago amid the continued slump in the steel and infrastructure sectors.

POSCO Holdings announced Thursday that its sales stood at 18.05 trillion won ($13.13 billion) in the January-March period, down 6.9 percent from the same period last year.

Operating profit also fell by 17.3 percent to 583 billion won during the same period.

However, compared to the previous quarter, operating profit was up 91.8 percent. The company attributed the increase to its new inventory evaluation in the battery materials sector from the previous quarter.

POSCO International Corp., the trading arm of the steel-making conglomerate POSCO, in the meantime, posted solid first-quarter performance, with the liquefied natural gas (LNG) value chain contributing to half of the operating profit.

POSCO International announced first-quarter operating profit of 265.4 billion won, down 5.1 percent from the same period a year ago, on sales of 7.76 trillion won, down 6.6 percent.

Hyundai Glovis Co. announced its provisional results for the first quarter, recording sales of 6.58 trillion won and operating profit of 384.8 billion won. Sales increased by 4.5 percent versus a year ago while operating profit fell by 5.4 percent.

Hanwha Solutions Corp. reported 2.39 trillion won in sales and 216.6 billion won in operating loss for the first quarter.

Sales decreased by 22.8 percent compared to the same period last year and swung to a loss from an operating profit of 271.4 billion won.

LG Display Co. also experienced an operating loss of 469.4 billion won for the quarter over sales of 5.25 trillion won.

HD Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering Co. announced that it recorded an operating profit of 160.2 billion won for the first quarter, a turnaround from an operating loss of 19 billion won a year earlier.

By Cho Yun-hee, Kim Hee-soo and Minu Kim

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