Hyundai Engineering and Construction Co. (Hyundai E andC) said Friday its first-quarter earnings jumped nearly 40 percent on strong housing and overseas business.Consolidated net profit came to 208.4 billion won (US$150.8 million) in the January-March period, up 38.4 percent from a year earlier, the company said in a regulatory filing.Operating profit surged 44.6 percent on-year to 250.9 billion won, and revenue spiked 41.7 percent to 8.55 trillion won.The first-quarter operating profit was 23.5 percent higher than a median market estimate of 203.1 billion won in a survey by Yonhap Infomax, the financial data firm of Yonhap News Agency.First-quarter sales accounted for nearly 29 percent of its full-year revenue target of 29.7 trillion won.Hyundai E andC said brisk domestic housing business combined with resilient overseas projects to generate stellar sales and earnings for the last quarter.In the first three months of the year, Hyundai E andC won orders worth 9.52 trillion won, up 60.3 percent f rom a year earlier and amounting to some 33 percent of the full-year order goal of 29 trillion won.As of end-March, its order backlog stood at 91.25 trillion won, up 1.7 percent from three months earlier.Source: Yonhap News Agency