Strong sales drive South Korea's Kia to Q1 net profit jump of 26%

The China Post (Seoul) - South Korea's second largest automaker Kia Motors said Friday its first-quarter net profit jumped 26 percent from a year earlier thanks to strong overseas sales and higherproduct prices.

Net profit in January-March rose to 1.2 trillion won (US$1.1 billion) from 953.2 billion won a year earlier, the company said. Sales rose 11 percent to 11.79 trillion from 10.66 trillion won. Overseas sales rose 17 percent while domestic sales fell 7.4 percent over the same period.