November 2003 Sales Performance

HHI¡¯s sales came to £Ü7.18 trillion by the end of November, achieving 86% of the total sales target for 2003. The Shipbuilding Division took almost half of all sales with £Ü3.32 trillion, and other divisions followed including Offshore & Engineering with £Ü 1.07 trillion, Construction Equipment with £Ü780 billion, Electro Electric Systems with £Ü746 billion, Engine & Machinery with £Ü617 billion and Industrial Plant & Engineering with £Ü550 billion.

Highest Newbuilding Orders

Hyundai Heavy Industries¡¯ Shipbuilding Division posted its highest-ever newbuilding orders worth $7.0 billion (125 ships equivalent to 9.2 million GT) in 2003. HHI surpassed the previous record of $4.1 billion (77 ships equivalent to 5.4 million GT) set three years ago, during which 46 million GT were ordered worldwide. Achieving an increase of 230% over its first-of-the-year order target of $3.0 billion, HHI currently has the highest-ever backlog with November 2003 Sales Performance Highest Newbuilding Orders 190 ships (13.7 million gross tons) worth over $10 billion, enough workload for the next three years.

By ship type, 66 containerships, 50 oil tankers, seven bulk carriers and two LNG carriers were ordered. Particularly noteworthy is that over half of newbuilding orders were for valued-added ships including 18 mega-sized containerships over 8,000 TEU. So far, HHI has secured a total of 22 out of 91 mega-sized containerships ordered worldwide.

Furthermore, HHI has taken a leading position in the growing niche tanker market by winning orders for 10 ice-class tankers, which cost about $10 million more than conventional oil tankers. These tankers were ordered in light of the recently active oil field development in the polar regions which provides short shipping routes to South Asia and Western Europe.

For 2004, HHI will focus its business activities on high valueadded ships such as ultra largesized containerships, ice-class ships, LNG carriers and offshore vessels for gas exploration & development. Moreover, HHI has a number of L/Is (Letters of Intent) and options to secure healthy order volume for next year.

HHI's Stock Price

HHI¡¯s stock price of £Ü19,600 at the beginning of the year rose by more than 86.2%, hitting £Ü36,500 as of December 29. The stock¡¯s robustness was attributable to record orders received during the year amid brisk performances by the shipbuilding and shipping industries, and to the company¡¯s vastly improved financial structure following the disposal of treasury stocks. The domestic stock market is expected to remain bullish in 2004 owing to the worldwide business recovery and China¡¯s continued economic growth.