SEOUL– Hankook Tire & Technology Co. said Wednesday its third-quarter net profit rose 19 percent from a year earlier helped by a weak won and increased sales of high-end tire products.
Net profit for the three months ended in September rose to 220.7 billion won (US$155 million) from 185.5 billion won a year ago, the company said in a statement.
“The quarterly bottom line got a boost from increased supplies of value-added products, higher product prices and the won’s weakness against the dollar,” the statement said.
Operating profit climbed 6.4 percent to 192.4 billion won in the third quarter from 180.8 billion won a year ago. Sales were up 17 percent to 2.29 trillion won from 1.83 trillion won during the same period.
From January to September, net income jumped 19 percent to 647.67 billion won from 521.97 billion won during the same period of last year.
Hankook Tire, the world’s seventh-biggest tiremaker by sales, earns over 80 percent of its total revenue abroad.
Currently, it has eight plants — two in South Korea, one in Hungary, one in the United States, three in China and one in Indonesia — whose combined capacity reaches about 100 million tires per year.
Source: Yonhap News Agency