Kia Motors has posted a net loss in the first quarter as a weaker South Korean won increased its foreign currency debt burden. The South Korean won weakened to an average of 956.92 against the US dollar in the first quarter from 939.10 a year ago, hurting the carmaker in terms of the dollar debt, although making its products cheaper in overseas markers. Kia earns about 70 per cent of its revenue overseas."A turnaround is likely in the second quarter, backed by rising car sales," Kim Deuk-ju, director of Kia's treasury group told analysts.
Kia aims to boost sales by 50,000 vehicles in the April-June quarter. In the first quarter, it sold 341,000 vehicles globally, up 3.7 per cent from a year earlier. Kia Motors is 38.6 per cent-owned by Hyundai Motor Co., South Korea's largest automaker. Together they form the world's sixth-largest carmaker. Hyundai said Thursday that its net profit rose 28 per cent on higher sales, cost reductions and won weakness.
[Source: The Sydney Morning Herald]
