Hyundai's Profits Recover to Over W1 Trillion
23 July, 2019
Hyundai's quarterly operating profit recovered to over W1 trillion for the first time in seven quarters (US$1=W1,178).
Hyundai on Monday said its second-quarter operating profit reached W1.24 trillion, up a whopping 30.2 percent on-year, while sales rose 9.1 percent to W26.97 trillion. The operating margin jumped 0.8 percentage point on-year to 4.6 percent.
"A number of factors contributed including a favorable exchange rate and the launch of new cars," a Hyundai spokesman said.
The average exchange rate in the second quarter was W1,165.9 to the dollar, 8.1 percent lower than a year ago, so Hyundai cars were cheaper and therefore more popular overseas. The carmaker also launched a new Sonata sedan and sold more SUVs, which are more profitable than sedans.
But it is still too soon to say that Hyundai is out of the doldrums because car sales by numbers declined 7.3 percent from the same period of last year to 1.10 million vehicles.
Although domestic sales rose 8.1 percent thanks to the large Palisade SUV, overseas sales dwindled by 10.1 percent. In China they plunged a whopping 35.1 percent to just 141,000 cars in a country of 1 billion people. In North America sales fell 4.1 percent, in Europe 4.8 percent and in India 7.7 percent.
"We're still in a tight spot as the global economy has slowed down due to the prolonged trade war between China and the U.S. and sluggish performance in emerging economies," the spokesman said.
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