SeAH Steel Holdings Q1 Operating Profit 28.7 Billion KRW... Up 138.3% YoY

[Asia Economy Reporter Hwang Yoon-joo] SeAH Steel Holdings announced that its consolidated operating profit for the first quarter of this year increased by 138.3% year-on-year to 28.7 billion KRW. During the same period, sales decreased by 3.6% to 646.8 billion KRW, while net profit rose by 182.8% to 24.5 billion KRW.

The company explained, "The spread of COVID-19 and the decline in domestic and international steel demand due to low oil prices, along with the deterioration of steel market conditions in our main market, North America, led to a decrease in the performance of our local sales subsidiaries."

Regarding operating profit, there was a temporary non-reflection of unrealized gains and losses in the fourth quarter of 2018 before SeAH Steel was included as a consolidated subsidiary during the transition to a holding company structure in the first quarter of last year. This created an optical illusion that operating profit surged sharply in the first quarter of this year.

SeAH Steel's standalone sales amounted to 298.9 billion KRW, down 9.1% from last year, and operating profit decreased by 14.3% to 21.7 billion KRW. Net profit was 18.2 billion KRW, down 9.8%.

The company stated, "The decline in export volumes and profitability due to worsening steel market conditions in the Americas affected the poor performance. Nevertheless, we significantly improved operating profit compared to the previous quarter through expanded sales in non-Americas regions."

It added, "Although steel demand is expected to decline due to the spread of COVID-19 and increased oil price volatility, we plan to focus on securing profitability through differentiated sales strategies."

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