[THE INVESTOR] Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering, a major shipbuilder in South Korea, said on Oct. 10 its restructuring scheme is going smoothly, with its three offshore facilities to be delivered on time.

“We expect our business result to remain in positive terrain going forward as our restructuring plan is being implemented as promised, and ships and offshore facilities will be delivered as scheduled,” the shipbuilder said in a statement.

In the first half of the year, DSME suffered a net loss of 1.19 trillion won (US$1.08 billion), with its debt-equity ratio exceeding 7,000 percent.

The shipbuilder said it will complete the sale of its headquarters building in downtown Seoul by the end of the month, a deal valued at 180 billion won, with non-core assets to be sold in the near future.

Last week, the shipbuilder said it would seek to cut its workforce by some 1,000 via an early retirement program amid a prolonged industrywide slump.

In October of last year, some 300 workers left Daewoo Shipbuilding through an early retirement scheme. Daewoo Shipbuilding said earlier it would cut its workforce to some 10,000 by 2020 through restructuring.

(theinvestor@heraldcorp.com)