Hyundai Motor’s first-quarter profit falls 2.4%, but forecast high – 04/25/2024 at 07:15

(Automatic translation by Reuters, please see disclaimer

(Added earnings, Hyundai press release) by Heekyong Yang and Ju-min Park

South Korean carmaker Hyundai Motor Co 005380.KS reported a 2.4 percent drop in first-quarter profit on Thursday, beating analysts’ forecasts, helped by strong sales of premium cars, while cheap money increasing the returned profit.

The world’s third-largest automaker by sales and its subsidiary Kia Corp 000270.KS reported a net profit of 3.2 trillion won ($2.32 billion) for the January-March period, down from 3.3 trillion won a year earlier.

This compares to the median LSEG SmartEstimate forecast of 3.0 trillion won.

Revenue rose 7.6 percent to 41 trillion won.

“First quarter sales were down year-on-year due to the temporary shutdown of our Asan production line to prepare for the launch of new vehicles, but we saw solid sales growth in major markets such as North America and India,” Hyundai Motor said. in the statement.

Hyundai Motor shares were down 0.8%, compared with a 1.3% decline in the benchmark KOSPI .KS by 0505 GMT.

(1$=1 376,4100 won)