[Click e Stocks] June Hyundai·Kia Sales, Limited Impact from Cargo Solidarity Strike

[Asia Economy Reporter Hwang Junho] KB Securities forecasted on the 4th that Hyundai Motor Group's automobile sales volume last month nearly reached the level before the semiconductor shortage crisis a year ago, and sales volume compared to the same period last year may increase starting this month.

Hyundai Motor Group's global wholesale sales including China in June recorded 599,000 units, a 1.9% decrease compared to the same month last year. This exceeded KB Securities' forecast by 4.1%. Hyundai Motor's global wholesale sales including China were 341,000 units (a 4.5% decrease compared to the previous year), which was 0.6% below KB Securities' previous estimate. Kia's global wholesale sales were 259,000 units (a 1.8% increase compared to the previous year), exceeding KB Securities' previous estimate by 11.0%.

Although there was an 8-day strike by the Cargo Solidarity last month, it appears to have had little impact on domestic automobile sales. Considering the number of working days, domestic wholesale sales volume for Hyundai Motor decreased by 4.3% compared to the same period last year, while Kia increased by 0.7%.

KB Securities expects that the divergent June sales performance between the two companies will have different directional impacts on their operating profits. Applying the existing assumptions for each company's contribution margin per unit (ASP - variable cost per unit) for the second quarter of this year (Hyundai Motor 6.84 million KRW, Kia 6.81 million KRW) simply, the difference in sales volume compared to expectations (Hyundai Motor -2,105 units, Kia 25,611 units) could result in changes in operating profit estimates of -14.4 billion KRW and 174.5 billion KRW, respectively.