SEOUL, Oct. 25 (Xinhua) -- Samsung C&T, the de-facto holding company of Samsung Group, South Korea's biggest family-controlled conglomerate, posted a double-digit increase in the third-quarter profit, a regulatory filing showed Wednesday.
Operating profit was 220.2 billion won (195 million U.S. dollars) in the July-September quarter, up 17.9 percent from a year earlier.
Revenue advanced 13.2 percent over the year to 7.49 trillion won in the third quarter, but net income declined 3.9 percent to 139 billion won.
The company posted an operating loss in the first quarter of last year due to losses in overseas construction projects, but since then it posted an operating profit for six straight quarters to the third quarter of this year.
The construction unit saw a 31.4 percent drop in operating profit due to higher construction costs, but the trading division's profit more than tripled thanks to higher prices for chemical and steel products.
The fashion business logged an operating loss in the third quarter, but the size of loss reduced compared with the same quarter of last year.
A South Korean court ruled last week that the merger in 2015 of Samsung C&T and Cheil Industries to create the de-facto holding company of Samsung was legally valid.
A part of shareholders in Samsung C&T criticized the 2015 merger for the share value of Samsung C&T, Samsung Group's construction affiliate, being set too low in favor of Samsung's heir apparent Lee Jae-yong.
Lee has been behind bars to serve a five-year jail term for bribing impeached President Park Geun-hye, who has been in custody and stood trial over corruption charges, in exchange for business favors including the government support for the 2015 merger.
