Hyundai Motor has said that its 2009 net profit more than doubled from the previous year on strong sales and favourable exchange rates. Fourth quarter net profit was almost four times higher than the previous year.
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Hyundai said it earned 2.96 trillion won in 2009, compared with a net profit of 1.44 trillion won in 2008.
The result exceeded analysts’ forecasts. The median estimate by analysts surveyed by Yonhap Infomax, the financial news arm of Yonhap News Agency, was a net profit of 2.85 trillion won.
Hyundai said its operating profit last year rose 19.1 percent from a year earlier to 2.23 trillion won.
Last year, Hyundai sold a record 3.1 million vehicles, up 11.7 percent from 2008. A softer won helped Hyundai spend more on marketing, while its Japanese rivals struggled with a strong yen.
Net profit for the three months to December jumped to 945.5 billion won from 243.5 billion won a year earlier, it said in a statement.
Sales rose 9.3 percent year-on-year to 9.649 trillion won and operating profit surged 44 percent to 837.2 billion won in the fourth quarter.
Hyundai Motor believes it can boost sales of its Hyundai and Kia brands by 17% globally in 2010 to 5.4m units from 4.63m in 2009.
Last year, Hyundai’s sales volume rose 10% to 3.1m vehicles, while Kia’s grew 9.3% to 1.53m.
Analysts noted that their ambitions could be thwarted by a stronger won – expected to rise 10% against the dollar in 2010 – and the ending of government-backed scrappage schemes.
