Operating Profit Up 21.9% in Q4... "Genesis Is the Breadwinner"
[Asia Economy Reporter Changhwan Lee] Despite the shortage of automotive semiconductors, Hyundai Motor Company recorded strong performance last year. Operating profit reached the highest level since 2014, and sales revenue was recorded at an all-time high.
Hyundai Motor announced on the 25th that its consolidated operating profit for the full year last year was 6.6789 trillion KRW, an increase of 178.9% compared to the previous year.
Last year's sales revenue was 117.6106 trillion KRW, up 13.1% from the previous year, marking the highest sales revenue ever. Net profit was 5.6931 trillion KRW, an increase of 195.8% compared to the previous year.
In the fourth quarter of last year, sales revenue was 31.0265 trillion KRW, and operating profit was 1.5297 trillion KRW. Compared to the previous year, sales revenue increased by 6.1%, and operating profit rose by 21.9%.
Global wholesale sales volume in the fourth quarter decreased by 15.7% year-on-year to 960,639 units. In the domestic market, sales of new SUVs such as Ioniq 5, Casper, and Genesis GV70 performed well, but due to the ongoing semiconductor supply shortage, sales decreased by 8.9% year-on-year to 185,996 units.
Overseas, sales declined by 17.2% year-on-year to 774,643 units, showing weakness in most markets due to production disruptions caused by semiconductor supply shortages.
The cost of sales ratio fell by 0.7 percentage points year-on-year to 80.9%. Despite the decline in global wholesale sales, this was due to the mix improvement effect centered on high value-added models and favorable exchange rate effects. The average USD-KRW exchange rate in the fourth quarter of last year rose by 5.9% year-on-year to 1,183 KRW.
The ratio of selling and administrative expenses to sales increased by 0.1 percentage points year-on-year to 14.2%, influenced by expanded research expenses for future investments.
As a result, operating profit in the fourth quarter of last year was 1.5297 trillion KRW, up 21.9% year-on-year. The operating profit margin was 4.9%.
Ordinary profit and net profit were 1.4743 trillion KRW and 701.4 billion KRW, respectively.
Regarding the outlook for the future business environment, Hyundai Motor expects global automobile demand to rebound as the COVID-19 pandemic situation gradually improves and the semiconductor shortage stabilizes.
However, it anticipates that difficult external conditions such as weakening government stimulus measures, increased marketing costs due to intensified competition among companies, and expanded exchange rate volatility will continue.
Hyundai Motor has set its global finished vehicle sales target for this year at 4.323 million units, including 732,000 units domestically and 3.591 million units overseas.
This year's investment plan is 9.2 trillion KRW, including 5 trillion KRW for capital expenditure (CAPEX), 3.6 trillion KRW for research and development (R&D), and 600 billion KRW for strategic investments.
Last year's year-end dividend was 4,000 KRW, an increase of 1,000 KRW from the previous year.
A Hyundai Motor official said, "Due to stricter environmental regulations in major countries this year, increased investment in eco-friendly infrastructure, and expanded preference for eco-friendly vehicles, the global eco-friendly vehicle market is expected to continue strong growth centered on electric vehicles. We will make our best efforts in this regard."
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