Hyundai Steel Co., South Korea’s No. 2 steelmaker, said Thursday its net profit went up 10.1 percent from a year earlier, aided by increased production capacity and efforts to cut costs.

Net profit came to 751.1 billion won ($687.32 million) last year, compared with the 682 billion won registered in 2013, the company said in a regulatory filing.

Operating profit more than doubled to 1.44 trillion won last year, and sales also jumped 25.1 percent on-year to 16.03 trillion won over the cited period, according to Hyundai Steel.

The company attributed its rise in earnings to an improvement in its overall output. Hyundai Steel’s integrated steel mill, which houses three blast furnaces, helped the firm churn out 19.1 million tons of crude steel last year, pushing up production by 20.1 percent compared to the previous year.

Share prices of the steelmaker finished at 65,300 won on Thursday on the main bourse, unchanged from the previous session’s close, while the broader KOSPI shed 0.54 percent. (Yonhap)