Premium products drive profit surge for Hankook Tire

Hankook Tire, Korea’s leading tire maker, said yesterday its operating profit soared 57.9 percent in 2012 from a year earlier thanks to steady overseas demand for its premium products.

Operating profit came to 912.9 billion won ($840 million) last year, compared with 578.1 billion won a year earlier, the company said. It did not disclose its net profit for last year.

Sales rose 8.3 percent year-on-year to 7.03 trillion won in 2012 from 6.49 trillion won in 2011 on strong sales of its high-quality tire products fueled by brisk automobile markets last year, said Hankook Tire.

Hankook Tire, the world’s seventh-largest tire maker, said it expects operating profit to grow 2 percent to 931.5 billion won this year thanks to rising demand for cars in emerging markets. It forecasts sales of 7.37 trillion won, up 4.8 percent from 2012.

Yonhap