Kia Motors, Korea's second-largest automaker, said Wednesday that its first-quarter net profit increased 4.6 percent from a year earlier, driven by strong demand for its SUVs and newly-launched models.
Net income came to 944.6 billion won ($822.7 million) during the January-March period compared with a profit of 903.2 billion won a year earlier, the company said in a regulatory filing.
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(Yonhap) |
Operating income also jumped 23.8 percent on-year to 633.6 billion won and sales rose 13.2 percent to 12.65 trillion won, it said.
Its first-quarter earnings were much better than the market consensus. Major brokerages predicted a net profit of 590.5 billion won in a poll conducted by Yonhap Infomax, the financial news arm of Yonhap News Agency.
"The won's descent against the dollar, impact from newly-launched models such as the Sportage and K7 and expanded sales of our recreational vehicles were behind the marked improvement in profit," the company said in an emailed press release. (Yonhap)
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