Kia logs record operating profit for Q1 despite decline in sales

Kia CEO Song Ho-sung speaks at Investor Day on April 5. [KIA]

Kia posted expectation-beating earnings for the first quarter Friday despite sluggish EV demand, with a near 20 percent jump in operating profit.

The carmaker logged an operating profit of 3.43 trillion won ($2.49 billion) for the January–March period, up 19.2 percent from the same period last year. It marked a record for a quarterly performance for the company.

The figure far surpassed the analyst expectation of 2.79 trillion won compiled by market tracker FnGuide.

Quarterly revenue rose 10.6 percent to 26.21 trillion won, surpassing the market expectation of 24.76 trillion won. Net profit also beat expectations, rising 32.5 percent to 2.81 trillion won.

The number of cars sold during the quarter declined by 1 percent to 760,515. Kia cited the slowing growth of EV demand worldwide and a temporary supply shortage of hybrid and combustion engine-powered cars for the decline.

However, continued strong sales of high-margin cars such as SUVs, a decline in raw material prices and a weakened local currency boosted its repatriated earnings, the carmaker said.

At home, Kia sold 137,871 cars during the first three months of the year, down 2.9 percent from a year earlier. In the overseas market, sales declined 0.6 percent to 622,644 cars.

Kia expects the business environment to remain unfavorable due to persisting geopolitical uncertainties, high commodity prices and high base rates.

Meanwhile, Hyundai Motor posted a 2 percent decline in operating profit in the first quarter at 3.56 trillion won.

BY SHIN HA-NEE [shin.hanee@joongang.co.kr]