Hankook Tire Co. Ltd. reported slightly lower sales and earnings for the quarter that ended March 31, but the Seoul-based tire maker maintained a solid operating profit/sales ratio of 15.5 percent.

Hankook did not elaborate on the reasons for the sales and earnings dips, focusing instead on its above-average growth in ultra-high-performance tire sales globally.

For the quarter, operating income fell 2.1 percent to $243.3 million, while sales slipped 2.5 percent to $1.57 billion.

Regarding UHP tires, Hankook said they accounted for more than 29 percent of the firm’s consolidated sales after growing 7.6 percent in the quarter. Regionally, UHP sales in China climbed 18.2 percent over 2013, while growth in the Middle East and other Asia-Pacific was pegged at 14.4 percent.

In more developed markets, Europe and North America saw moderate increases in UHP sales of 4.5 and 3.6 percent, respectively, from the same quarter last year.

Source: rubbernews.com