Hyundai Motor reports 51% drop in second quarter net profit.

Johnson Cherian.

Hyundai Motor says its second-quarter net income plunged 51 per cent over a year earlier as sales in China and the U.S. fell sharply.

The South Korean automaker said Wednesday that its net income for the April-June period was 816.9 billion won ($728.8 million), compared with 1.7 trillion won ($1.5 billion) a year earlier.

The result was worse than expected. Analysts predicted a net profit of 1.4 trillion won ($1.2 billion), according to FactSet, a financial data provider.

Its operating profit sank 24 per cent to 1.3 trillion won ($1.2 billion) during the period, while sales fell 2 per cent to 24.3 trillion won ($20.9 billion).

The maker of Genesis saw China sales wiped out 64 per cent as Chinese consumers shunned Korean cars over Seoul’s decision to deploy a U.S. missile defense system.