Kia Motors Q4 profit nearly doubles

SEOUL, Jan. 22 (Yonhap) -- Kia Motors Corp., South Korea's second-largest
automaker, said its net profit nearly doubled in the final quarter of 2008,
helped by a weaker local currency.
Kia, an affiliate of Hyundai Motor Co., earned 74.8 billion won (US$54.8 million)
in the October-December period, compared with a profit of 37.9 billion won a year
earlier, the company said in a regulatory filing.
The result, however, was far below a median forecast of 128 billion won in a poll
of 14 analysts by Yonhap Infomax, the financial news arm of Yonhap News Agency.
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