Hyundai Motor posted a record quarterly turnover on Friday but accounting changes meant that it missed profit forecasts.
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Hyundai earned 253.8 billion won ($210 million) in net profit in the final quarter of 2002 against 251.4 billion a year ago.
Analysts expected Hyundai to post net profit in excess of 300 billion won, but Hyundai said it had changed certain accounting rules bringing forward the reflection of its costs on research and development (R&D) in its books.
Hyundai Motor – including its Kia subsidiary – is boosting R&D spending by almost 50 percent this year to a combined 2.25 trillion won.
The company’s financial results have been boosted by strong exports of high margin models like the Santa Fe.
Hyundai’s ambitious expansion strategy calls for five million units per annum output by 2008, more overseas plants and ascent into the global automotive OEM top five.
