Kumho Tire(073240) reported 182.2 billion won in operating profit for the second quarter this year, maintaining growth from a year earlier. It achieved the result despite higher raw material costs due to the Middle East war, with analysts saying aggressive expansion in sales of high-margin products such as high-inch tires and electric-vehicle tires played a role.
Kumho Tire said on the 30th that second-quarter operating profit on a consolidation basis came to 182.2 billion won, up 4.0% from the same period a year earlier. Revenue during the period rose 9.1% to 1.3328 trillion won. Kumho Tire has posted more than 1 trillion won in quarterly revenue for 11 straight quarters since the fourth quarter of 2023.
Despite higher raw material costs from the Middle East war and U.S. tariffs, profitability improved thanks to increased sales of high-margin products. High-inch tires of 18 inches or larger accounted for 47% of total sales volume in the second quarter, and electric-vehicle tires made up 25.1% of original equipment tire supply globally.
By region, North American market revenue was 431.1 billion won, up 10% from a year earlier. The share of high-inch tires in the region expanded by 5.8 percentage points to 57.8%. European market revenue climbed 18.1% to 420.9 billion won, marking a record quarterly high. Domestic market revenue fell 6.4% to 182.4 billion won, while revenue in China rose 20.4% to 103.2 billion won.
Kumho Tire reaffirmed this year's goals of achieving 5.1 trillion won in revenue, a 47% share for 18-inch high-inch products, and a 30% share for electric-vehicle tire supply. Cumulative first-half revenue was 2.5006 trillion won, 49% of the target, and the company believes it can also meet its goals for the shares of high-inch products and electric-vehicle tires.
A Kumho Tire official said, "We will steadily push ahead with construction of the Hampyeong plant and the Europe plant to fully establish a global production system linking Korea, Europe and North America, and will focus even more on expanding our global market presence and improving profitability based on this."