Hyundai Motor said its third-quarter net profit rose 27% from a year earlier as overseas sales helped offset production losses from a 12-day workers’ strike.
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According to The Associated Press (AP), South Korea’s largest automaker said it earned 534.9bn won (US$512m; EUR423m) in the three months ended September 30, up from 421bn won a year earlier.
Total sales during the quarter fell 6% to 6.15 trillion won from 6.54 trillion won a year earlier, as vehicle sales decreased 10.9% to 360,856 because of the strike and a one-week partial plant shutdown for a car model changeover at the end of July, the report added.
The results reportedly beat expectations. Analysts surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires predicted a net profit of 463.1bn won and sales of 6.29 trillion won.
The Associated Press said Hyundai lost 43,000 vehicles and sales worth 591bn won to the strike that began in late August.
Overseas sales of higher margin models such as the Sonata and the Santa Fe and Tucson sport utility vehicles “contributed to the strength of the bottom line,” Oles Gadacz, Hyundai’s director global public relations, told AP.
Hyundai Motor also gained from better performance by its credit card and auto financing units and its overseas auto manufacturing units in China, India, Turkey and the United States, the report added.
Vehicles sales at the overseas units totaled 183,201 in the third quarter, up 60% from 114,560 the year before. Subtracting the 32,770 vehicles produced during the quarter by the automaker’s plant in Montgomery, Alabama, which wasn’t on line in the third quarter last year, overseas sales grew 31%, The Associated Press said.
