Kia Posts 61% Profit Surge on Strong Sales Growth

Kia Motors announced Friday that net profit rose 61 percent in the second quarter amid an increase in sales.

Kia earned 557.8 billion won ($471 million) in the three months ended June 30, the company said in a regulatory filing. It had net profit of 347.1 billion won the year before.

It said sales in the second quarter totaled 5.77 trillion won. That was 23 percent higher than the 4.68 trillion won reported a year earlier.

Kia Motors Corp. is an affiliate of Hyundai Motor Co. Together they form the world’s fifth-largest automotive group.

The company’s results came a day after Hyundai, South Korea’s largest automaker, said second-quarter profit soared 71 percent to a record high on a double-digit jump in global sales, including strong performance in the United States, China and emerging markets.

Hyundai earned 1.39 trillion won ($1.2 billion) in the second quarter after posting net profit of 811.9 billion won in the same period last year.

Both companies have expanded aggressively overseas in recent years. Kia has plants in China and Slovakia and began production in the U.S. last year. Hyundai has factories in China, India, Turkey, the U.S. and the Czech Republic.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP)