(LEAD) Hyundai Mobis Q1 net jumps 73 pct on EV parts

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SEOUL, April 23 (Yonhap) -- Hyundai Mobis Co., South Korea's biggest auto parts maker, said Friday its first-quarter net profit jumped 73 percent from a year earlier on increased sales of components for electrified vehicles.

Net profit for the January-March period soared to 603.3 billion won (US$539 million) from 348.8 billion won a year ago, the company said in a statement.

"In particular, strong demand for high-end components used in electric vehicles gave a boost to the bottom line, with sales of EV components exceeding 1 trillion won for a third straight quarter (through the first quarter)," the statement said.

Sales in the EV parts division were up 64 percent to 1.15 trillion won in the first quarter from a year earlier.

Operating profit climbed 36 percent to 490.3 billion won in the first quarter from 360.9 billion won a year ago. Sales rose 17 percent to 9.816 trillion won from 8.423 trillion won, it said.

Hyundai Mobis aims to win $2.88 billion worth of overseas parts orders for the year. In the first three months, it achieved $436 million won worth of orders.

The company expects its bottom line to improve further this year as it began to supply core components to Hyundai Motor Group's own EV-only electric-global modular platform (E-GMP).

Last week, Hyundai Motor launched the IONIQ 5 all-electric model equipped with the platform in the domestic market.

kyongae.choi@yna.co.kr
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