Hankook Tire, the leading and one of the fastest growing tyre companies in the world, today announced its financial results for the first quarter 2014 with robust global consolidated sales of KRW 1.67 trillion and operating profit of KRW 260.1 billion, marking a healthy operating profit to sales ratio of 15.5%.
Hankook Tire’s solid financial performance for the first quarter was largely driven by brisk sales in ultra-high performance (UHP) tyre segment across the global market. The quarterly global sales in UHP tyres have shown a 7.6% increase YoY, and this accounted for approximately 29.1% of the company’s consolidated quarterly sales.
In particular, China led all markets with UHP tyre sales to finish with 18.2% increase from a year earlier. Middle East and other Asia-Pacific regions also enjoyed a drastic growth in UHP tyre sales at a rate of 14.4% YoY. Moreover, in developed markets, Europe and North America saw moderate increases in UHP sales with 4.4% and 3.6% growth respectively from the same quarter last year.
Such a notable growth momentum in UHP evidently demonstrates Hankook Tire’s strong competitive advantage with innovative tyre technology as well as its enhanced brand equity as a premium tyre company in the global automotive industry.
Mr. Seung Hwa Suh, Vice Chairman & CEO of Hankook Tire said, “Despite challenges arising from changing business environment, our widely recognized tyre technology with advanced R&D capability has firmly solidified the foundation for growth, enabling robust financial results for the first quarter in 2014.” He also added, “With our technological leadership accompanied with strategic investments in place, Hankook Tire will continue our endeavor to strengthen our brand value as a premium tyre company in the global automotive market.”