Korea & Company Reports 23% Operating Profit Margin Last Year... "Profit Growth in Lead-Acid Battery Division"

Korea & Company Group (formerly Korea Tire Group), a business-type holding company, achieved an operating profit margin of over 23% last year. With this, Korea & Company set a record of maintaining an operating profit margin exceeding 20% for three consecutive years.

On the 5th, Korea & Company announced that its global consolidated management performance for 2023 recorded sales of 1.097 trillion KRW and operating profit of 253 billion KRW. Compared to the previous year, sales increased by 0.1% and operating profit rose by 3.2%.

Last year's operating profit margin was 23.1%. Korea & Company has maintained an operating profit margin in the 20% range for three consecutive years since 2021. Even in 2020, when profitability was sluggish due to the impact of COVID-19, Korea & Company maintained a margin in the 19% range.

The Korea & Company Group explained, "The global premium growth strategy and research and development investments promoted at the group level by Chairman Cho Hyun-bum have shown results," adding, "The profit growth of the Energy Solutions Business Division, which is responsible for the lead-acid battery business, also contributed."

Hankook Tire & Technology Headquarters

In particular, sales and operating profit in the fourth quarter of last year grew significantly. Fourth-quarter sales increased by 39% year-on-year to 325.8 billion KRW, and operating profit surged by 273% to 77.1 billion KRW. This was largely due to increased sales of the premium AGM (Absorbent Glass Mat) batteries in the global market.

Additionally, profitability improved due to an increase in equity-method income from the major affiliate Korea Tire & Technology (hereafter Korea Tire). Korea Tire is expanding the segment of the world's first full lineup electric vehicle-exclusive tire brand 'iON' and strengthening the supply of new car tires centered on supercars and global premium brands.

This year, Korea & Company plans to continuously expand the production and sales of AGM batteries to enhance business competitiveness and strengthen future new growth engines such as the development of lithium-ion batteries (LIB).

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