Kia Motors Q2 net jumps 10.6%

Kia Motors Corp., South Korea's No. 2 automaker, said Wednesday that its second-quarter net income surged over 10 percent from a year earlier on a large increase in sales.

Net profit came to 825.7 billion won ($727 million) in the April-June period, up 10.6 percent from the same period last year, the company said in a regulatory filing.

Sales jumped 16.1 percent on-year to 14.45 trillion won, marking the highest quarterly tally since 2010, when the company adopted international financial reporting standards in its earnings reports.

Operating profit came to 770.9 billion won, spiking 18.5 percent from the same period last year and breaching the 700 billion-won mark for the first time since the second quarter of 2014.

"The company's profit grew significantly on a drop in the won-dollar exchange rate and increased sales of new vehicle models and recreational vehicles," a company official said. "The company will continue to defend its profitability in the latter half by launching new and high-end vehicle models in major global markets."

In the first six months of the year, sales jumped 14.7 percent on-year to nearly 27.1 trillion won, with net profit climbing 7.3 percent to 1.77 trillion won. (Yonhap)