Moody's puts S.Korea's Kia Motors rating on review for possible upgrade

 The global rating agency Moody's on Thursday put South Korea's second-largest automaker Kia Motors' crediting on review for possible upgrade.

Moody's now assigns Kia a Baa3 rating, the tenth highest on its 21-tier rating scale, with stable outlook.

"The rating action mainly reflects increased upward pressure on Kia's standalone rating, resulting from a continued improvement in the company's financial profile. The improvement is in turn underpinned by its strengthened product line-up and brand equity," Chiris Park, a vice president and senior analyst at Moody's in Hong Kong, said in a press release.

Kia has outperformed its global peers strongly, with its global unit sales growing at a compound annual growth rate of 23 percent over the last two years and a further 20 percent on-year in the first quarter of this year, according to Moody's.

Park noted the growth in Kia's market share will continue over the short to medium term given its strong product launch strategy and the balanced geographical portfolio.

Despite the negative impact of a potential appreciation in the South Korean won, Kia is expected to see robust sales growth and improvements in product mix, he added.

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