Kia Corp. on Friday reported its first-quarter net profit of 2.8 trillion won (US$2 billion), up 32.5 percent from a year earlier.

Operating income for the January-March period was 3.42 trillion won, up 19.2 percent from a year ago, the company said in a regulatory filing. Revenue rose 10.6 percent to 26.21 trillion won.

The earnings beat market expectations. The average estimate of net profit by analysts stood at 2.24 trillion won, according to a survey by Yonhap Infomax, the financial data firm of Yonhap News Agency.

Source: Yonhap News Agency