Nexen Tire Corp.’s first quarter earnings jumped 43% from a year earlier on the back of increased prices.
Net profit reached 25 billion won (US$22.4 million) in the January-March period, compared with a profit of 17 billion won a year earlier, the company said in a regulatory filing.
Sales increased 8.6% to 249 billion won over the cited period, while operating income fell 5.1% to 32.4 billion won, it said.
Last month, Nexen Tire raised tire prices for domestic retail customers by 7% after increasing prices for U.S. and European buyers by as much as 8% since January.
The price increase helped it partly offset increased costs of raw materials.
Analysts said Nexen, currently South Korea’s third-largest tiremaker, may expand its local market share as bigger rival Kumho Tire Co. was put under a debt restructuring program by creditors amid a shortage of cash in January.