April 25, 2024

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[THE INVESTOR] Kia Motors said on Oct. 26 it swung to a net profit in the third quarter from a year earlier due to a low base effect.

For the three months ending Sept. 30, Kia posted a profit of 297.74 billion won (US$262 million) from a net loss of 291.77 billion won a year ago, the company said in a statement. 

“In the third quarter of 2017, a one-off cost of 864.1 billion won was reflected in the bottom line when a local court ordered the company to retroactively make an overdue payment to employees,” a company spokesman said.

The court ruling, made in August last year, said regular bonuses should be included in the “ordinary wage” used as the basis for calculating overtime, severance and other payments.

Kia shifted to an operating profit of 117.28 billion won in the third quarter from an operating loss of 427.02 billion won the previous year. Sales fell 0.24 percent to 14.074 trillion won from 14.108 trillion won over the same period, it said.

By Song Seung-hyun and newswires (ssh@heraldcorp.com)