Hyundai Heavy Industries has been broken up into four companies in a bid to cope with an industry slump that has led to thousands of jobs losses and raised questions about the future of ship-building in South Korea.

The second-largest ship-builder in the world began trading as four entities on 9 May — focused on ship-building, construction equipment, electric machinery and industrial robots.

The market value of the four companies combined is said to be a little over $14 billion. Chief executive Kang Hwan-goo said: “We decided to spin off these units to more effectively cope with the prolonged industry slump and strengthen our core competencies.”

Jihyang Hyun, a ship-building analyst with the CLSA consultancy group, said: “Last year was the bottom, but there are signals that things are turning around.

There is pressure on prices, so now could be the time for ship-owners to place an order at a good price. The Hyundai Heavy ship-building division is at an early stage, but it is going in the right direction in terms of orders and earnings.”

Hyundai Heavy’s split was welcomed by economic analysts, who believe that it will be easier to determine the value of the businesses and to boost investment.

However, it has been opposed by the group’s unionised workforce, which claims that the restructuring will lead to more lay-offs.