Seoul - Yonhap
Hyundai Mobis Co., South Korea\'s leading auto parts maker, said Friday that its third-quarter earnings rose 10.3 percent from a year earlier on increased sales. Net profit reached 706.2 billion won (US$639.2 million) in the July-September period, compared with 640.1 billion won tallied a year earlier, the company said in a regulatory filing. Sales shot up 20.1 percent to 6.49 trillion won over the cited period, with operating income also jumping 19.1 percent to 667 billion won, it said. Despite the surge in net profits, shares of Hyundai Mobis were down 2.12 percent, trading at 345,500 won on the Seoul bourse as of 2 p.m. \"Rising automobile module sales in the United States, China and Europe and a spike in demand for key components contributed to pushing up earnings during the cited period,\" the company said. For the January-September period, net profit rose 17.6 percent on-year to 2.40 trillion won, with sales rising 19.7 percent to 19.25 trillion won and operating profit rising 9.2 percent to 2.08 trillion won. Hyundai Mobis is an affiliate of Hyundai Motor Co. and Kia Motors Corp., the country\'s two major automakers.