(LEAD) Hankook Tire Q1 net falls 15 pct on one-off costs

Economy 11:29 May 12, 2023

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SEOUL, May 12 (Yonhap) -- Hankook Tire & Technology Co., the world's seventh-largest tiremaker by sales, said Friday its first-quarter net profit fell 15 percent on one-off costs involving a fire in its domestic plant.

Net profit for the three months ended in March fell to 95.87 billion won (US$719 million) from 112.75 billion won during the same period of last year, the company said in a regulatory filing.

"Damages caused by a massive fire at (the company's) Daejeon plant in March were factored in the quarterly bottom line," a company spokesperson said, adding the fire burned about 210,000 tires.

On March 12, one of two production lines at Hankook Tire's Daejeon plant, 164 kilometers south of Seoul, was burnt down, and the other line has yet to resume production. The other line was not affected by the fire but has been under test production.

Operating income rose 52 percent to 190.94 billion won in the first quarter from 126.07 billion won a year ago. Sales were up 18 percent to 2.104 trillion won from 1.79 trillion won during the same period.

Hankook Tire earns over 80 percent of its total revenue from abroad.

It has eight plants -- two in South Korea, one in Hungary, one in the United States, three in China and one in Indonesia -- whose combined capacity reaches 102 million tires per year.