Samsung Engineering Co., one of South Korea’s largest industrial plant builders, said Tuesday its net profit jumped 18.3 percent in the first quarter from a year earlier, thanks to increased overseas sales.

Net income came to 143.6 billion won ($125.9 million) in the January-March period, compared with 121.4 billion won a year earlier, the company said in a regulatory filing.

Sales soared 46.2 percent on-year to 2.6 trillion won during the cited period, and operating profit reached 189.3 billion won, a gain of 16.9 percent from the first three months of 2011, the company said.

The company said the jump in the first-quarter bottom line was attributable to strong overseas orders. Sales generated abroad spiked 72.6 percent to reach 2.2 trillion won.

The builder said it plans to strengthened its market presence in the Middle East and make inroads into the Commonwealth of Independent States and the U.S.

Shares of Samsung Engineering were trading at 222,500 won on the Seoul bourse as of 1:50 a.m., unchanged from the previous session’s close. (Yonhap News)