Samsung SDI Achieves 10 Trillion KRW Annual Sales Last Year... Growth in Medium and Large Battery Sales

[Asia Economy Reporter Dongwoo Lee] Samsung SDI has achieved annual sales of 10 trillion won for the first time since its founding. It also recorded the highest quarterly sales ever.

Samsung SDI announced on the 30th that its consolidated operating profit for last year was tentatively estimated at 462.2 billion won, down 35.36% from the previous year. During the same period, sales increased by 10.25% year-on-year to 10.0974 trillion won. Net profit decreased by 45.99% to 402.4 billion won.

Sales in the fourth quarter of last year were 2.821 trillion won, and operating profit was 20.1 billion won. Sales increased by 9.9% compared to the previous quarter, but operating profit decreased by 87.9%. Compared to the same period last year, sales increased by 13.8%, while operating profit plummeted by 91.9%.

During the same period, sales in the battery business division were 2.2084 trillion won, up 13.2% from the previous quarter. The company explained that this was due to significant growth in sales of medium-to-large batteries applied to automobiles and ESS compared to the previous quarter. Automotive batteries achieved record-high sales and profitability also improved. Small batteries saw increased sales of cylindrical batteries centered on power tools and vacuum cleaners.

Sales in the electronic materials business division were 610.4 billion won, down 0.6% from the previous quarter. Although sales slightly decreased compared to the previous quarter, the sales structure improved as the proportion of high value-added products expanded. Polarizing film sales decreased due to seasonal factors, but OLED and semiconductor materials sales increased due to improved upstream demand.

The company stated that in the first quarter of this year, the overall business is expected to be affected by seasonal off-season factors. Due to seasonal effects, demand is expected to decrease, leading to declines in sales and profitability in the medium-to-large battery, small battery, and electronic materials divisions compared to the previous quarter; however, medium-to-large batteries are expected to grow compared to the same period last year.

Samsung SDI said, "We plan to thoroughly prepare to expand the supply of automotive batteries and steadily implement measures to strengthen ESS safety to achieve gradual performance improvement."

It forecasted that growth is expected this year in electric vehicles, ESS, small batteries, and the semiconductor market. The automotive battery market this year is expected to grow by 55% compared to 2019 to 176 GWh, driven by significant demand growth due to strengthened carbon dioxide emission regulations in Europe. The ESS market is expected to reach 15.9 GWh, a 26% increase from the previous year, mainly in overseas power markets, and the small battery market is also expected to grow by 14% year-on-year to an annual scale of 10.2 billion cells.

Electronic materials are expected to see the memory semiconductor market grow by 10% year-on-year to a scale of 134 trillion won, and the display market is expected to see growth in demand for extra-large panels and an expansion in the proportion of mobile OLED panels.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.