SEOUL, South Korea (Aug. 1, 2012)—Hankook Tire Co. Ltd. doubled its operating profit in the quarter ended June 30 on 18.5-percent higher sales.
Hankook attributed its earnings improvement to the higher sales and lower relative raw materials costs and said robust demand for its ultra-high-performance tires, particularly in North America and from overseas OE customers—which registered 30- and 38.3-percent growth, respectively—led to the increased sales.
For the period, operating earnings rose to $187.1 million on sales of $1.6 billion, for an earnings/sales ratio of 11.7 percent, a full five percentage points better than a year ago. Net earnings were not disclosed.
Seung Hwa Suh, vice chairman and CEO, said the firm's growth is “largely due to our unyielding will to develop premium UHP tires and environmentally friendly products through our advanced cutting-edge tire technology.”
Suh added Hankook will seek to continue growing through an expanded distribution network and marketing activities globally.
For the six months ended June 30, operating earnings rose 60.6 percent to $391.6 million on 21.2-percent higher sales of $3.17 billion. The earnings/sales ratio jumped three percentage points to 12.3 percent.