POSCO Future M’s net plunges 96 pct in 2023 on low material prices

SEOUL, POSCO Future M Co., the battery materials unit of POSCO Holdings Inc., said Tuesday its full-year net profit plunged 96 percent last year from a year earlier due to lower material prices. Net profit for the whole of 2023 plummeted to 4.44 billion won (US$3.3 million) from 121.93 billion won the previous year, the company said in a regulatory filing. Yet sales rose 44 percent to 4.76 trillion won from 3.3 trillion won, with operating profit sinking 78 percent to 35.88 billion won. "Sales increased last year helped by the addition of new products. But lower material prices also drove down the value of inventories, dealing a blow to the bottom line," the filing said. POSCO Future M, formerly POSCO Chemical Co., has mainly produced refractories and burnt lime, key materials used in the steelmaking process, since its foundation in 1971 as an arm of the country's leading steelmaker. In recent years, the company has been aggressive in establishing its presence in the secondary battery components busines s, particularly with the materials used to make cathodes and anodes -- core materials used in lithium-ion cells for electric vehicles. POSCO Future M touts itself as one of the few companies capable of producing both cathodes and anodes. It supplies cathodes to Samsung SDI Co., LG Energy Solution Ltd. (LGES) and Ultium Cells LLC., the U.S. joint venture between LGES and General Motors Co. Source: Yonhap News Agency