[THE INVESTOR] LIG Investment and Securities said on July 20 that Kia Motors will restore profits in the second quarter as robust domestic demand is filling up its slowing overseas sales.

The brokerage predicted the carmaker would post 13.3 trillion won (US$11 billion) in sales and 700 billion won in operating profit in the April-June period, up 7.2 percent and 7.4 percent, respectively.

On its home turf, car sales increased 16.3 percent largely due to the hot-selling K7 sedan, coupled with tax benefits.

LIG predicted the company’s outlook for the latter half of the year is not that positive considering the prolonged economic recession in emerging markets such as Russia, South America and Middle East.

By Lee Ji-yoon (jylee@heraldcorp.com)