South Korea's leading automaker Hyundai Motor Co. on Tuesday said its net income dropped slightly from a year earlier in the second quarter on a dip in exports and profitability.

Net profit came to 1.76 trillion won ($1.55 billion) in the April-June period, down 1.5 percent from the same period last year, the company said in a regulatory filing.

Sales surged 8.1 percent on-year to 24.68 trillion won, with operating profit gaining 0.6 percent to 1.76 trillion won.

The on-year drop in net income was partly attributed to weak demand in overseas markets.

In the three months ended June 30, the South Korean carmaker exported 271,979 cars, down 14.4 percent from the same period last year.

The drop was in turn attributed to a steady increase in the company's overseas production.

Still, the large drop in exports more than offset a 12.2 percent spike in overseas sales of Hyundai cars produced overseas.

In the first six months of the year, the company's overseas sales slipped 1.8 percent on-year to a little over 2.04 million cars, while its domestic sales advanced 4.4 percent to some 350,000 vehicles.

"The company's overall performance has somewhat slowed from a year earlier in the first half, partly due to weak demand in some newly emerging markets. Still, the second-quarter performance showed improvements from the previous quarter," a company official told reporters. (Yonhap)