S Korea's Hyundai Motor posts net loss in Q4 2018

SEOUL - Hyundai Motor, South Korea's biggest automaker, posted a net loss in the fourth quarter of last year, the company said on Thursday.

Hyundai's revenue increased 4.8 percent over the year to 25.7 trillion won ($22.8 billion) in the October-December quarter, but its operating profit tumbled 35.4 percent to 501.1 billion won ($443.8 million).

The operating profit missed market expectations of about 700 billion won ($620 million), staying below 1 trillion won ($885.7 million) for the fifth consecutive quarter.

The automaker logged a net loss of 203.3 billion won ($180.1 million) in the fourth quarter, marking the first loss since 2010.

The downturn was attributable to the depreciation of emerging market currencies that pulled down the repatriated revenue from emerging economies.

For the entire year of 2018, Hyundai's revenue inched up 0.9 percent over the year to 97.3 trillion won ($86.2 billion).

Last year's operating profit plunged 47.1 percent to 2.4 trillion won ($2.1 billion), and net income dropped 63.8 percent to 1.6 trillion won ($1.4 billion). The figures were the lowest since 2010.