SEOUL, KOREA - The first-quarter operating profit for LG Chem declined more than 10 percent to 362.1 billion won from a year ago. But its rechargeable battery business turned to the black for the quarter. The LG Group company held a briefing session at the Korea Exchange in Seoul's Yoido and said its first-quarter financial performance was 5,672.8 billion won in sales revenue, 362.1 billion in operating profit, and 286.0 billion won in net profit.

 

 

Comparing to the first quarter of 2013, sales revenue shrank 0.8 percent while operating profit and net profit declined 11.4 percent and 16.0 percent, respectively. But the operating profit amount is higher than the market consensus. Comparing to the fourth quarter last year, sales revenue, operating profit, and net profit each rose 0.6 percent, 14.5 percent, and 61.7 percent.

 

By business unit, petrochemical and rechargeable battery divisions did well while the electronic materials division fell short of expectations. The first-quarter operating profit of the petrochemical unit was 308.0 billion won, up 17.7 percent from the previous quarter, far surpassing the consensus level of 250 billion won. The rechargeable battery unit saw its operating profit soar to 17.4 billion won from a loss of 6.1 billion won in the fourth quarter last year.

 

The company believes its performance would get better beginning in the second quarter. Cho Seok-je, CFO of LG Chem, said, "The petrochemical and electronic materials divisions will enter a peak season in the second quarter. Especially the ramp-up of the new polarizer production lines in the Nanjing plant will help the whole company achieve better performance. As for the rechargeable battery business, we expect the demand for all types of products to rise across the board."