LG Chem's Operating Profit Drops 15% in 2023

LG Chem announced that its comprehensive performance in 2023 achieved revenue of 55.25 trillion won and operating profit of 2.53 trillion won. Revenue increased by 8.4% year-on-year, and operating profit fell by 15.1% year-on-year.

Commenting on the results, Dong Seok Cha, chief financial officer of LG Chem, said: "This has been a challenging year, with extreme volatility due to external factors, including slowing global demand. This has led to a continued downturn in the petrochemical industry, coupled with market concerns about electric vehicle demand and the sharp decline in prices of metals such as lithium, has impacted our sales and profitability. "

Excluding LG Energy Solutions, LG Chem’s revenue last year was approximately 26.6 trillion won. The company's revenue target for this year is 27.8 trillion won, a year-on-year increase of 5%.

In terms of business outlook, Dong Seok Cha said that although the operating environment continues to be difficult due to factors such as geopolitical risks in the Middle East, global economic downturn, and slowdown in demand for electric vehicles, this year is expected to be a turning point to achieve substantial improvement in growth and profitability, cultivating three new driving forces.

This expectation is based on strengthening the regional diversification strategy and accelerating the development of the petrochemical company's sustainable business, increasing shipments of cathode materials through diversification of customer programs at Advanced Materials, and focusing on global clinical development led by life sciences company AVE0.

At the same time, LG Chem reported consolidated revenue of 13.13 trillion won and operating profit of 247.4 billion won in the fourth quarter of last year. Compared with the same period last year, revenue fell 3.8%, but operating profit increased 18.2%.