SEOUL, KOREA - Woori Investment & Securities said on April 21 that the first-quarter consolidated operating profit of Korea Zinc was 153.8 billion won, meeting the market expectations. It set the investment opinion and the target price for the company at "hold" and 320,000 won.

 

Byun Jong-man, Woori Investment & Securities analyst, said, "Korea Zinc's first-quarter consolidated sales revenue would be 1,147.4 billion won, down 4 percent from the previous quarter, with operating profit and net profit rising 10 percent and 14 percent each to 153.8 billion won and 118.5 billion won." Both operating profit and net profit were within the range of the market consensus of 1,167.8 billion won in sales revenue and 151.8 billion won in operating profit.

 

The analyst added, "The rise of the international price of zinc that accounts for 30 percent [as of 2013] of the company's sales has been positive to its performance. But the weakness in the price of silver that took the largest portion of its sales at 35 percent is hurting the company in increasing sales revenue. Nonetheless, overall profitability will improve thanks to the rebounding in the prices of indium whose gross-margin ratio is estimated at 50 percent."