Hyundai Engineering & Construction Co., South Korea's No. 2 builder, said Friday its third-quarter net profit jumped 20.7 percent as large-scale projects in the Middle East took shape.

Net profit stood at 163.02 billion won ($145 million) in the July-September period, compared with the 135.1 billion won registered a year earlier, the construction firm said in its regulatory filing.

Operating profit rose 14.6 percent on-year to 264.37 billion won, and sales gained 10.6 percent to 4.71 trillion won, it said.

The third-quarter figures reflect the performances of its subsidiaries, including Hyundai Engineering.

The quarterly performance exceeds the market consensus despite a slump in overseas construction projects after low oil prices prompted Middle Eastern countries to delay large-scale projects.

Hyundai E&C said it started construction on an offshore crude oil and gas processing facility and nuclear power plant in the United Arab Emirates boosting overall sales, while cost-cutting efforts also paid off.

The amount of new contracts bagged in the first nine months of this year has decreased 4.3 percent on-year to 15.16 trillion won because falling oil prices led to a delay and cancellation of some projects by oil-rich nations, it said.

Hyundai E&C offered a positive business outlook from the resurging local real estate market following years of slumps as more people started to buy houses on the back of low borrowing costs.

"Profits are expected to grow largely thanks to lucrative overseas projects and steady improvement in the local real estate markets," the company said in a release.  

Its shares rose 3.06 percent to 37,100 won on the Seoul bourse, outperforming the benchmark index KOSPI's 0.86 gain. (Yonhap)