Hyundai Q3 profits fall

The painful slowdown in Chinese economic growth and a stronger South Korean won slashed Hyundai Motor's net profit by a quarter over the past three months, the firm said Thursday.

The firm -- which along with its smaller affiliate Kia Motors forms the world's fifth-largest carmaking group -- also indicated China's ongoing malaise and a sketchy US economic outlook would pose problems.

In the July-September period Hyundai said net profit came in at 1.2 trillion won ($1.05 billion), down 25 percent from a year earlier and well short of the 1.57 trillion won average of analysts' estimates tallied by Bloomberg News.

The sharp fall came as operating profit slipped 8.8 percent on-year to 1.5 trillion won but sales rose 10.1 percent to 23.4 trillion won.