Small Batteries Lead Strong Performance
Samsung SDI’s operating profit in the third quarter of the year almost quadrupled from a year ago.
The company announced on July 26 that it had recorded sales of 2.528 trillion won (US$2.22 billion) and operating profit of 241.5 billion won (US$212 million) in the third quarter of this year.
Sales increased 46.6% over the same period last year (1.721 trillion won), while operating profits nearly quadrupled from 60.2 billion won a year ago. Compared with the preceding quarter, sales and operating profits increased 12.2% and 58.1%, respectively.
Net income also increased 58.6% from the same period last year to 211.1 billion won, more than doubling from the previous quarter (14.7 billion won).
By business sector, sales of the battery division increased 11.3 percent from the previous quarter to 1.92 trillion won.
The main factor behind the strong performance was a significant increase in sales of small batteries, which was supported by an increase in demand for round batteries and the start of the polymer battery season due to the introduction of flagship smartphones by mobile phone manufacturers. Sales of electric vehicle (EV) batteries also increased.
The electronics material business recorded 598.2 billion won in sales, up 15.3 percent from the previous quarter, on the back of the increase in demand for semiconductor materials and the increase in supply of display materials such as polarizing films and organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs).
Samsung SDI expects to continue to grow in all categories in the fourth quarter of this year.
With the demand for round batteries continuing to increase, the supply of polymer batteries is expected to increase, especially in the Chinese market. Sales of medium-sized and large batteries are expected to increase due to rising demand for energy storage equipment (ESS) markets. Sales of EV batteries will grow as supply for newly launched automobiles in Europe will increase.
In the electronics materials sector, the performance of the company will improve as a result of the expansion of the supply of polarizing film used for large-scale televisions and mobiles and the entry of OLED materials into the next generation platform, the company added.