This photo, provided by POSCO Chemical on July 28, 2022, shows its cathode plant in Gwangyang, South Jeolla Province, 423 kilometers southwest of Seoul.
SEOUL, Oct. 24 (Korea Bizwire) — POSCO Chemical Co. said Monday its third quarter net profit jumped 60.5 percent from a year earlier on the back of solid growth in the lucrative battery materials segment.
Net income came to 65.6 billion won (US$45.7 million) in the July-September period, compared with a net profit of 40.8 billion won the previous year, the chemical unit under South Korean steel giant POSCO Holdings Co. said in a regulatory filing.
Operating profit grew more than twofold to 81.8 billion won, from 31.5 billion a year ago. Sales more than doubled to 1.05 trillion won, surpassing the 1 trillion-won mark for the first time on the quarterly basis, the company said.
The earnings exceeded market expectations. The average estimate of net profit by analysts stood at 56.7 billion won, according to a survey by Yonhap Infomax, the financial data firm of Yonhap News Agency.
The stellar performance came as the company has been ramping up the secondary battery materials business as a new growth engine.
Its battery components biz, which includes cathode and anode materials used in lithium-ion battery cells, generated 726.7 billion won in sales for the third quarter, more than tripling from the previous year.
The battery component sector now accounts for 69 percent of all revenue, up from 42.5 percent a year ago, POSCO Chemical said.
Its sales of cathodes, such as lithium and nickel, grew 57.4 percent to 658.3 billion won on brisk demand and rising raw material prices, it said.
Anodes sales increased 47 percent on-year to 68.4 billion won.
In the basic chemicals division, the company drew 204.1 billion won in burned lime sales, up 6.5 percent from the previous quarter. Sales of refractories dipped 12.4 percent to 117.2 billion won.
POSCO Chemical touts itself as one of the few companies engaged in production of both the cathode and anode materials for lithium-ion battery cells used in electric vehicles.
POSCO Chemical formed a joint venture with U.S. General Motors Co., named Ultium CAM, to build a cathode plant in Quebec, Canada, by late 2024, and bagged a number of supply contracts with global automakers.
POSCO Chemical said it aims to produce 610,000 tons of cathodes and 320,000 tons of anodes by 2030.
Shares in POSCO Chemical advanced 4.01 percent to 194,500 won on the main Seoul bourse on Monday, outperforming the broader KOSPI’s 1.04 percent gain. The earnings results were released before the market closed.
(Yonhap)
