Hyundai Mobis Co., Korea's leading auto parts maker, said Friday that its second-quarter earnings fell 1.6 percent from a year earlier due to increased spending on new overseas plants.
Net income came to 884 billion won ($776 million) in the April-June period, compared with a profit of 898.3 billion won from a year ago, the company said in a regulatory filing.
Sales jumped 17.3 percent on-year to 7.7 trillion won, while its operating income slid 3.9 percent to 705.5 billion won.
Shares of Hyundai Mobis were trading at 284,500 won on the Seoul bourse as of 2:20 p.m., down 0.35 percent from the previous session's close.
"The weak bottom line is attributable to rising costs for new plants in China and Brazil," said Hyundai Mobis in a statement.
Hyundai Mobis' Chinese and Brazilian plants are scheduled to start mass production later this year.
For the first six months of the year, its net profit rose 7.2 percent on-year to 1.8 trillion won thanks to rising sales of automobile modules and key components.
Hyundai Mobis posted 15 trillion won in first-half sales and 1.4 trillion won in operating profit.
"Brisk sales of automobile modules and key auto parts contributed to pushing up the first-half earnings, as South Korean cars are on a roll in the United States, China and Europe," said the company.
Hyundai Mobis is the largest parts supplier to Hyundai Motor Group, the world's fifth-largest automaker that also includes Hyundai Motor Co. and Kia Motors Corp. (Yonhap)