Seoul- Hyundai Heavy Industries Co Ltd, the world's largest shipbuilder, on Thursday reported a two-thirds rise in its fourth-quarter earnings but predicted a 23-per-cent drop in orders for this year.

It saw better-than-expected net profit of 854 billion won (621 million dollars) for the quarter as sales rose 42 per cent over the final quarter of 2007 to 6.05 trillion won.

The South Korean company said, however, that falling demand amid the global economic downturn would cause its orders to fall to
21.2 billion dollars this year. It set a sales target of nearly 23 trillion won for 2009, up 14.6 per cent from 2008.

For all of last year, Hyundai, which has a 15-per-cent share of the global shipbuilding market, set records for profit and sales: 2.24 trillion won in profit, up 29 per cent from 2007, and nearly 20 trillion won in sales, up 28.5 per cent.

Although new orders fell to 110 ships from 148 in 2007, the ships were of a higher value at 28.2 billion dollars, up 12.8 per cent. (dpa)