Hankook announces Q2 2022 results

During the second quarter of 2022, Hankook Tire grew its sales by 12.9 per cent year-on-year to KRW 2,039.9 billion (£1.3 billion). Operating profit, squeezed by world events, rising raw material costs and inflation, shrank 6.3 per cent year-on-year to KRW 175.2 billion (£109.9 million). This result nonetheless represented a 39.0 per cent increase compared with the operating profit of KRW 126.0 billion (£79.0 million) achieved in Q1 2022. Hankook attributes this quarter-on-quarter improvement to a growing share of sales attributable to high-value-added products as well as effective pricing strategies.

Sales of large-diameter (18” or more) passenger car remained a key engine for growth and accounted for 39.1 per cent of Hankook’s total passenger car tyre sales, up from 38.0 per cent a year earlier. The Chinese market was the biggest contributor here, with sales of large-diameter car tyres growing by 11.5 percentage points year-on-year to 51.8 per cent of total sales. This was followed by Hankook’s home market of South Korea, where the ratio increased by 3.4 percentage points to reach a record high of 50.5 per cent. The European market recorded a 0.5 percentage point increase year-on-year. Further growth in consolidated revenues also came from strong sales on the North American market of both original-equipment and replacement tyres.

Full-year outlook

Hankook aims to achieve double-digit growth this year and increase its sales of large-diameter tyres to 42.0 per cent of the passenger car tyre total. The company says it will also focus on gaining leadership in the electric vehicle tyre segment.