LG Chem : Signs Strategic Partnership With TransThera Biosciences In China

LG Chem, Highest-ever Quarterly Revenue · Operating Profit

- Announcement of Business Results for the First Quarter of 2021

■ Business Results for the 1st Quarter

- Sales: KRW 9.65 trillion (increased by 43.4% compared to the same period of last year)

- Operating Profit: KRW 1.4 trillion (increased by 584.0% compared to the same period of last year)

■ Analysis of Q1: Achieved good results in all business sectors, including Petrochemicals, Advanced Materials, Life Sciences, Energy solutions, etc.

- Strong demand and spread expansion of major products due to the favorable turn in the petrochemical industry

- Improved performance by expanding sales of flagship products such as advanced materials, life sciences, energy solutions, etc.

■ Dong Seok Cha, CFO

"We have reorganized our business structure despite the uncertain external environments and laid the foundation to creating stable profits through the continuous investment in new growth engines."

"We will foster the battery material business such as cathode materials, CNT, etc. as reliable growth engines, and also have a plan to actively invest in promising ESG fields including recycled and biodegradable materials, etc., starting to grow through external collaboration."

LG Chem announced on the 28th that it achieved its highest-ever quarterly business performance of ▲KRW 9.65 trillion in Sales ▲KRW 1.4 trillion in Operating profit in the first quarter of this year.

It is 43.4% in sales and 584.0% in operating profit compared to the same period last year, which renewed its highest-ever quarterly sales and operating profits.

In terms of operating profit, quarterly operating profit exceeded KRW 1 trillion for the first time since its establishment. The previous highest operating profit was KRW 902.1 billion in the third quarter of 2020 and the highest sales were KRW 8.9 trillion in the fourth quarter of 2020.

Regarding the first quarter, LG Chem CFO Dong Seok Cha said, "It is because we have reorganized our business structure despite the uncertain external environments and laid the foundation to creating stable profits through the continuous investment in new growth engines."

He also said, "We will foster the battery material business such as cathode materials, CNT, etc. as reliable growth engines, and also have a plan to actively invest in promising ESG fields including recycled and biodegradable materials, etc., starting to grow through external collaboration."

Looking at the 1st quarter performance and 2nd quarter forecasts by each business sector in detail,

The Petrochemicals Company recorded KRW 4.43 trillion in sales and KRW 983.8 billion in operating profit. It achieved solid performance due to strong demand for major products such as home appliances, medical supplies, building materials, etc., followed by the favorable turn for the front industries.

It is predicted that sales growth and solid profitability will continue in the second quarter from the operation of the new capacity of high value-added products such as NBL, CNT, etc., along with the operation of the 2nd NCC in Yeosu.

The Advanced Materials Company recorded KRW 1.17 trillion in sales and KRW 88.3 billion in operating profit. Sales and profitability improved significantly compared to the previous quarter due to the increased production volume of cathode materials and the recovery of demand for engineering plastics (EP) materials.

In 2Q, sales growth is expected to continue in line with additional operation of new lines for the cathode materials plant and expanding shipment of OLED materials.

The Life Sciences Company recorded KRW 161.9 billion in sales and KRW 22.5 billion in operating profit. Profitability improved compared to the previous quarter with increased sales of major products such as Zemiglo, Eutropin, etc. and strengthened their market position.

In the second quarter, Eutropin, a new polio vaccine, will begin to supply to UNICEF, and sales are expected to increase.

The Energy Solution recorded its highest-ever quarterly sales and operating profit with sales of KRW 4.25 trillion and operating profit of KRW 341.2 billion. Profitability improved by expanding shipments of EV batteries and continuously improving yields and reducing production costs.

Sales of automobile batteries and cylindrical batteries are expected to grow in the second quarter with increased sales of electric vehicles, and efforts to improve profitability will continue through early stabilization of expansion lines and cost reduction.

FarmHannong recorded KRW 210.9 billion in sales and KRW 29.7 billion in operating profit. Sales and profitability declined slightly compared to the same period of last year due to the delay in sales of major products such as crop protection agents due to the impact of Covid-19 pandemic.

Although the cost burden is expected due to the recent increase in raw material prices, sales and profitability are predicted to improve compared to the previous year through increased sales of crop protection agents and high value-added special fertilizers.

[Reference]

■ LG Chem Q1 performance

(Unit: 100 million KRW )

'21. 1Q

'20. 1Q

YoY (%)

'20. 4Q

YoY (%)

Revenue

96,500

67,292

43.4%

89,049

8.4%

Operating Profit

14,081

2,059

584.0%

1,186

1,087.5%

■ Sales and operating profits for each business sector(Unit: million KRW)