SEOUL, KOREA - Hyundai Motor suffered a 13.3-percent year-to-year decline in operating profit in the second quarter of this year due to the hike in the won’s value.
The car maker revealed its second-quarter results on July 24. It posted sales of 22.75 trillion won and operating profit of 2.08 trillion won for the second quarter. Sales revenue fell 1.9 percent and operating profit 13.3 percent year on year.
This was the first time for Hyundai Motor to suffer a double-digit year-to-year decline in operating profit since the fourth quarter of 2014 when its operating profit posted a negative growth of 11.4 percent.
A Hyundai Motor official said, “We released a string of new models, including New Genesis and Sonata, and made company wide efforts to reduce cost and improve profitability. However, we suffered a negative growth mainly due to unfavorable foreign exchange movements.”
The won-dollar exchange rate, which averaged at 1,105 won per dollar in the first half of last year, fell 5.1 percent to 1,048 won in the first half of this year.
For the first half of this year, Hyundai Motor sold 2,496,000 cars worldwide, up 4.4 percent from the same period last year. It registered sales of 44.4 trillion won and operating profit of 4.02 trillion won, down 0.3 percent and 5.8 percent, respectively, from a year ago.