Hankook Tire's Q2 operating profit reduces on strong currency

Hankook Tire, South Korea's leading tiremaker, said on Tuesday that its second-quarter operating profit fell on the local currency's appreciation against the U.S. dollar, which reduced overseas earnings.

Operating profit came in at 251.2 billion won (245 million U.S. dollars) in the three months ending June 30, down 7.4 percent from the same period of last year, the company said in a statement.

Revenue declined 11.2 percent from a year earlier to 1.66 trillion won in the second quarter, and net income sank 22.8 percent to 161.4 billion won in the cited period.

The negative earnings were attributable to the South Korean currency's ascent to the greenback, which reduced overseas earnings converted into the local currency.

Despite the strong currency, Hankook continued to post robust sales in ultra-high performance (UHP) tires, which helped build a strong brand reputation especially in the European market, the company said.

The UHP tire segment accounted for about 30 percent of the company's consolidated quarterly tire sales.

The company said that it plans to improve global competitiveness and brand recognition by investing more into research and development and strengthening technology as part of efforts to become a global top-tier tire brand.

The country's No.1 tiremaker broke ground in June for its new R&D center, Hankook Technodome, in the central city of Daejeon. It will spend 266.6 billion won to build its sixth R&D center by 2016.