Hyundai reveals lacklustre profits

South Korea’s Hyundai Motor reported its lowest quarterly profit in nearly two years due to a surge in the local currency and lacklustre car sales at home.

South Korea’s largest carmaker said it earned 1.89 trillion won (€1.33bn) in the October-December quarter, down 5.5% over a year earlier.

The result was below the median analyst forecast of 2.05 trillion won (€1.44bn), according to FactSet. It was also the carmaker’s smallest profit since the first quarter of 2011.

Hyundai attributed lower profit to the won’s sharp gain against the dollar, which made it harder to compete with Japanese rivals such as Toyota.