POSCO, South Korea’s leading steelmaker, said Tuesday that its third-quarter earnings more than tripled from a year earlier on cost-cutting efforts and a one-time factor.

Net profit reached 723 billion won ($656 million) on a consolidated basis in the July-September period, compared with a profit of 229 billion won a year earlier, the company said.

Sales, however, slipped 7.2 percent on-year to 15.74 trillion won, and operating income also dropped 17.6 percent to 1.06 trillion won over the cited period, it said.

Shares of POSCO closed at 348,000 won on the Seoul bourse, down 2.11 percent. The third-quarter business results were released after the market closed. (Yonhap News)