Strikes dent Hyundai Motor's 3Q profit

Hyundai Motor Co. suffered a fall in third quarter profit versus the previous quarter after strikes dented vehicle production.

South Korea's largest automaker said Thursday net profit fell 15 percent from the April-June quarter to 2.16 trillion won ($1.96 billion). It was Hyundai's first sequential drop in quarterly profit in a year. 

The result, which matched forecasts, was still a 13 percent rise over a year earlier. 

Its operating profit fell 18 percent from the second quarter to 2.05 trillion won on revenue of 19.65 trillion won. 

The maker of Avante cars blamed reduced output and lower demand in the South Korean market for the quarter to quarter fall.

Hyundai's labor union in South Korea staged walkouts in July and August. Hyundai estimated the labor union's refusal to work some regular and overnight shifts resulted in lost output of 82,000 vehicles worth $1.5 billion.

Despite reduced sales at home, Hyundai said its overall car sales between January and September rose 8 percent over a year earlier to 3.18 million vehicles, thanks to higher sales in U.S. and Europe.

Operating profit during the nine months rose 15 percent over a year earlier to 6.84 trillion won and its net profit expanded 17 percent to 7.16 trillion won. (AP)