K-Battery Trio
As the global electric vehicle market is rapidly growing, the “K-Battery Trio” – LG Energy Solution, Samsung SDI, and SK innovation – have stepped on the growth accelerator. They recorded respective sales growth of 73%, 23%, and 170% (projected) in the second quarter compared to the same period last year. Their profitability has also significantly improved.
LG Energy Solution, Korea’s largest battery company, announced on July 27 that it recorded a second quarter sales of 8.7735 trillion won (US$6.8426 billion). This is the highest-ever quarterly performance, marking a 73% increase from the same period last year (5.706 trillion won). This marks a six-quarter consecutive rise.
Operating profit recorded was 460.6 billion won. This is an increase of 135.5% compared to the same period last year (195.6 billion won), but a decrease of 27.3% compared to the previous quarter (633.2 billion won). The company failed to meet the preliminary results announced earlier this month (611.6 billion won). The company explained that “this is due to temporary cost increases and one-time provisions incurred during the General Motors recall process,” adding that “we continue to maintain a stable trend through continuous productivity improvement.”
Samsung SDI also held a corporate briefing session on the same day, announcing that it had achieved 5.8406 trillion won in sales and 450.2 billion won in operating profit in the second quarter. Both sales and operating profit were the highest ever for the second quarter, with sales surpassing 5 trillion won for four consecutive quarters.
Compared to the same period last year, sales increased by 1.998 trillion won (23.2%), and operating profit increased by 21.2 billion won (4.9%). The company explained that “this was due to an increase in sales of the premium P5 (Gen.5) product installed in high-end electric vehicles.”
As a latecomer, SK innovation is expected to reduce the scale of its deficit. The financial investment industry estimates that SK innovation recorded sales of around 3.5 trillion won and an operating loss of around 100 billion won in the second quarter. Sales in the second quarter of last year were 1.288 trillion won. According to financial information company FnGuide, SK innovation is expected to turn to a surplus around the second half of this year due to improved yields and increased shipments. SK innovation is scheduled to announce its results on July 28.