Seoul: DL Engineering and Construction (E and C) Co. on Friday reported its fourth-quarter net profit of 230.7 billion won (US$157.2 million), marking a significant increase of 96.7 percent from the previous year.

According to Yonhap News Agency, the company disclosed in a regulatory filing that its operating profit for the October-December period experienced a decline of 33.1 percent year-on-year, amounting to 63 billion won. Additionally, sales saw a decrease of 30.5 percent, totaling 1.69 trillion won.

Despite these decreases, the company's earnings surpassed market expectations. Analysts, as surveyed by Yonhap Infomax, the financial data subsidiary of Yonhap News Agency, had predicted an average net profit estimate of 63.9 billion won.