Hankook reports robust earnings for Q1 2014

ERJ staff report (TP)

Seoul, South Korea – Hankook Tire said its financial results for the first quarter 2014 had global consolidated sales of KRW 1.67tn (€1.2bn) and an operating profit of KRW 260.1bn (€181.4m), marking an operating profit to sales ratio of 15.5 percent.

The company said its “solid” financial performance for the first quarter was largely driven by “brisk sales in ultra-high performance (UHP) tire segment across the global market”. The quarterly global sales in UHP tires showed a 7.6 percent increase year-on-year, and this accounted for approximately 29.1 percent of the company’s consolidated quarterly sales.

In particular, China led all markets with UHP tire sales to finish with an 18.2 percent increase from a year earlier. Middle East and other Asia-Pacific regions also enjoyed growth in UHP tire sales at a rate of 14.4 percent year-on-year. Moreover, in developed markets, Europe and North America saw moderate increases in UHP sales with 4.4 percent and 3.6 percent growth respectively from the same quarter last year.

Seung Hwa Suh, vice chairman & CEO, said: “Despite challenges arising from a changing business environment, our widely recognised tire technology with advanced R&D capability has firmly solidified the foundation for growth, enabling robust financial results for the first quarter in 2014.”