Hyundai’s Fourth-Quarter Profit Jumps 17%

Hyundai Motor Co. earned a net profit of 2.1 trillion won ($1.9 billion) in the final quarter of 2013 compared with 1.8 trillion won a year earlier. Operating profit grew 11% to 2 trillion won.

Revenue for the period slipped 3% to 21.9 trillion won ($20.4 billion). Unit sales were flat at 1.23 million units.

For the full year, revenue grew more than 3% to 87.3 trillion won ($81.3 billion). But operating profit declined nearly 2% to 8.3 trillion won ($7.7 billion), and net profit shrank 1% to 8.99 trillion won ($8.4 billion). The company blames production losses, a weak domestic market in South Korea and fluctuating currency exchange rates.

Hyundai reports unit sales of 4.73 million vehicles worldwide, up 7%, last year. Volume in South Korea fell 4% to 640,700 units, but demand overseas jumped 9% to 4.09 million. The company produced 62% of its vehicles outside its home market.

Hyundai predicts "sluggish" demand from markets everywhere this year. Still, the company expects to boost its own sales 4% to 4.9 million vehicles worldwide in 2014, including 682,000 in Korea (+6%) and 4.22 million elsewhere (+3%).