Chairman Park Jeong-won of Doosan Group. (Photo: Doosan)

Doosan Infracore Co., Korea’s leading construction equipment maker, said the company posted the largest profit in the first quarter in seven years, led by its affiliate Doosan Bobcat’s excellent growth in its operation in north America and its own operation in global markets including China, North America and Europe.

The company said its Q1 sales amounted to 2.182.6 trillion won, up 11.5 percent YoY while its operating profit climbed to 241.6 billion won, up 3.5 percent YoY.

The leading construction equipment maker said increased prices and sales were responsible for the superb results in the quarter in its key markets including China, North America and Europe.

The sales of medium to large construction equipment came to 1.009 trillion won in major markets around the world, up 4 percent YoY while the sales in China amounted to 467.1 billion won, up 9.9 percent YoY, thanks to a boom in investments in infrastructure in the Middle Kingdom, the company said.

The company said that it has posted solid sales growth in the North American and European markets in the Q1 2019 with its aggressive marketing strategy. Its Q1 sales from the two regions reached some 200 billion won combined, up 14 percent from a year earlier. Doosan said in a statement that, “We believe this is a result of our aggressive sales tactic in accordance with the market recovery in North American and European regions.”

It said that the company beefed up customer support programs and expanded dealerships in the two regions to boost sales. The company added that it is also looking to establish a “customization center” so that it can swiftly execute customers’ needs in the North American and European markets. It added: “We’re on course to achieve 840 billion won in annual sales in these markets.”

Doosan Infracore received heavy equipment sales business in advance markets from its affiliate Doosan Bobcat last year. The company recently opened its third US distribution in Seattle, in addition to its existing facilities in Miami and Atlanta.

Doosan Infracore announced that it has received a series of orders from Uzbekistan and Saudi Arabia to provide excavators and wheel loaders.

Doosan Infracore signed deals to provide 47 excavators and wheel loaders to an unspecified construction equipment rental business and two large customers in Uzbekistan. They have purchased and operated such equipment from Doosan and the latest order is testament to Doosan’s quality and service capability, the company said.

The construction equipment maker also clinched a deal to provide 46 specialized excavators and wheel loaders to Uzbekistan.
Doosan Infracore said it successfully beat out low-priced competitors, crediting its success to the market’s reliability of its equipment quality and years of partnership with local customers. Additional orders are expected in Uzbekistan as demand for railway construction equipment is increasing.

In Saudi Arabia, the company said its early understanding of local market demand and quality products with price and performance characteristics led to the success. Demand in the Saudi construction machinery market has been steadily increasing due to the local government’s aggressive spending for infrastructure construction and investment.

“Despite concerns about a global economic slowdown and the risk of currency fluctuations, we will continue growth by beefing up customer channels and focusing on large-sized products in emerging markets.” said a company official.

Doosan Infracore’s products include construction equipment, including compact equipment, crawler excavators, wheel loaders, wheeled excavators, articulated dump trucks, air compressors, light compaction equipment, generators and lighting systems; machine tools and factory automation equipment, including turning centers, machining centers, numerical control (NC) boring machines, double column machining centers and others, and engine and parts, including generator diesel engines, marine diesel engines, automotive diesel engines, industrial diesel engines, generator natural gas engines, automotive natural gas engines and various construction equipment parts, such as hydraulic pumps, brake discs, filters, control valves and others. On October 27, 2011, the Company merged with its wholly owned subsidiary.

On July 9, 2012, it acquired a 100% stake in its wholly owned subsidiary.