By Heekyong Yang and Joyce Lee
SEOUL (Reuters) -South Korea’s Hyundai Motor Co reported on Thursday a 151% rise in third-quarter profit, boosted by solid sales of high-margin sport utility vehicles and a favourable exchange rate.
Hyundai reported a net profit of 3.2 trillion won ($2.36 billion) for the July-September period, up from 1.3 trillion in profit a year earlier.
That exceeded an estimate of 2.9 trillion won from 19 analysts compiled by LSEG SmartEstimate, which is weighted toward forecasts from analysts who are more consistently accurate.
Revenue rose 8.7% year-on-year to 41 trillion won.
Hyundai and many of its rivals have enjoyed strong profit growth this year, as a slow production recovery from disruptions caused by a global chip shortage during the pandemic failed to keep up with robust demand, leaving vehicle prices high.
But the momentum is slowing as high interest rates and an uncertain economic outlook have raised vehicle financing costs and sapped consumer demand.
General Motors said on Tuesday it was slowing the launch of several electric vehicle models to cut costs and pulling back on EV product spending to put profits ahead of sales targets.
Shares of Hyundai Motor were trading down 0.2% as of 0451 GMT, versus benchmark KOSPI’s 2.4% fall.
($1=1,358.3200 won)
(Reporting by Heekyong Yang and Joyce Lee; Editing by Clarence Fernandez and Jamie Freed)
