"EcoPro Materials Turns to Profit, Shareholder Letter Apologizes for Q3 Performance"

Exterior view of the Ecopro Materials headquarters. Photo by Ecopro Materials

Kim Byung-hoon, CEO of Ecopro Materials, expressed regret over the poor third-quarter performance and revealed the business strategy direction, including sales diversification.

Ecopro Materials announced on the 14th that it posted a shareholder letter signed by CEO Kim Byung-hoon on its website and notified employees via the company bulletin board. In the letter, CEO Kim stated, "I deeply regret that the quarterly operating results recorded a negative figure just before the IPO," and explained, "Profitability was poor due to falling mineral prices and the burden of raw material inventory."

Ecopro Materials recorded sales of 240 billion KRW and an operating loss of 6.9 billion KRW in the third quarter. Although sales increased by 33% compared to the same period last year, operating profit turned to a loss.

CEO Kim said, "Due to the impact of high interest rates in the U.S., consumer burdens have increased, and delays in Europe’s eco-friendly policies have caused the global electric vehicle market growth to slow down," adding, "We expect that our company will not be completely free from such market conditions." He continued, "Although short-term growing pains in the market seem inevitable, we believe the long-term market direction remains steady," and added, "It is hopeful that all raw materials purchased at high prices have been used up and the decline in mineral prices is narrowing."

CEO Kim explained, "We have presented plans for 30% external sales in 2025 and 50% in 2027," and said, "Currently, the external sales plan is progressing very smoothly, and there is a possibility that the external sales ratio will be raised beyond the previously presented figures." He added, "As a leading Korean precursor company in a precursor market dominated by Chinese companies, we will devote all efforts to technology development and expanding production capacity," emphasizing, "A crisis is an opportunity to distinguish the true from the false, and someday the sunshine hidden behind the dark clouds will appear."

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