Hyundai posts 13% Gain With USD2 billion Q3 profit.

(Bloomberg) Hyundai Motor Co. said its third-quarter profits gained 13 percent as it benefited from anti-Japan protests in China and the i10 minicar helped the company buck the economic slump in Europe. Third-quarter net income climbed to 2.17 trillion won ($2 billion), from 1.92 trillion won a year earlier, the Seoul-based company said this week. The carmaker said it will probably beat its full-year sales forecast as deliveries climb 8.2 percent in the fourth quarter, led by demand in China. Hyundai benefited last month from flaring anti-Japan protests in China over a territorial dispute, which helped cushion the fallout from a seven-week labor strike that cost the carmaker an estimated 1.7 trillion won in lost production.
Hyundai on Sept. 4 agreed to raise compensation, on average, by 27.3 million won per person and end overnight shifts, according to the union. That ended Hyundai’s first strikes since 2008, which caused 82,088 vehicles in lost output, according to company estimates. The stoppages, which began mid-July, led third-quarter exports from South Korea, home to 46 percent of Hyundai’s production capacity, to fall 14 percent, according to the company’s Web site. Sales at home shrank 8.3 percent. While Hyundai has periodically faced disruptions in the past four years because of labour disputes, none were legally sanctioned and they rarely lasted beyond several hours. The last formal strike occurred in 2008, when a 12-day walkout cost the company an estimated 691 billion won, according to Hyundai.