“We shouldn’t hold back investment on the future even when business conditions are not bright. We have to find the momentum for growth by thoroughly preparing for trend changes.”
– Lotte Group Korea chairman Shin Dong-bin
Lotte World Tower under construction (image courtesy of Yonhap)
SEOUL, Feb. 15 (Korea Bizwire) — Lotte Group, whose affiliates include retail, construction, chemicals and tourism, said Sunday it will make a record amount of investment in its businesses this year to aggressively target the market despite an economic slump.
The group, the fifth-largest family-run conglomerate in the country, also said it will hire 15,800 people this year, slightly more than last year.
The announced investment, 7.5 trillion won (US$6.82 billion), includes 3.4 trillion won on retail business, 1.5 trillion won on construction and chemicals, 1 trillion won on foods and 1.1 trillion won on tourism and services segments. The pledged total is 32 percent more than last year and outdoes the previous record of 7 trillion won in 2010.
The conglomerate, established by a Korean resident in Japan, has been snagged by falling sales in the retail sector as local consumption falters while its new skyscraper in southern Seoul, the Lotte World tower, the tallest building in the country, is dogged by persistent safety concerns and lack of business spark.
The group’s management transition to the founder’s sons were seen as veering off the expected course with the older sibling, who had been in charge of the Japan-side business, suddenly being dismissed from major positions in the affiliates.
Shin Dong-bin, the younger brother who spearheads the Lotte companies in South Korea, had told group executives recently that they shouldn’t hold back investment on the future even when business conditions are not bright. “We have to find the momentum for growth by thoroughly preparing for trend changes,” he was quoted as saying.
The group’s retail business was to get the biggest investment to establish an “omni-channel shopping” system, a global trend that ties together all tools for shopping, such as on- and off-line venues and mobiles.
In chemicals and construction, Lotte is scheduled to start construction of ethane cracker plant in the U.S. state of Louisiana.
The group is also slated to open two tourist hotels in downtown Seoul and operate some 40 hotels in and out of the country by 2018.
(Yonhap)
