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[Alpha Biz=(Chicago) Reporter Kim Jisun] POSCO Holdings posted poor performance in the third quarter of this year due to worsening steel markets, its flagship business.
The difficult market environment is expected to continue from the second half of this year to the first half of next year. POSCO Holdings plans to continue efforts to achieve mid- to long-term growth goals by reducing costs and responding quickly to markets.
POSCO Holdings said in a public announcement on the 24th that it posted sales of 18.961 trillion won, operating profit of 1.196 trillion won and net profit of 550 billion won in the third quarter of this year. Sales fell 10.4 percent on-year, but operating profit rose 33.3 percent in September last year due to the base effect of the shutdown of Pohang Steel Mill, which was flooded by Typhoon Hinnamor. Net profit for the current term remained the same as last year. Due to the sluggish global steel market, sales, operating profit and net profit fell 5.5%, 7.7% and 25%, respectively, compared to the previous quarter.
POSCO Holdings suffered an operating loss of KRW 400 billion in the fourth quarter last year when its Pohang steel mill was shut down due to Typhoon Hinnamnor. Since then, it has gradually normalized its business and succeeded in turning into a surplus in the first quarter of this year, and operating profit recovered to 1.3262 trillion won in the second quarter, but the recovery has declined somewhat due to the worsening steel market in the third quarter.
POSCO is a key subsidiary that accounts for more than half of the group's total sales and operating profit. POSCO's third-quarter earnings were 9.675 trillion won in sales and 72.7 billion won in operating profit, down 11.1 percent from a year earlier and up 83 percent in operating profit.
POSCO Future M, a subsidiary of POSCO Group's secondary battery materials, renewed its quarterly sales by increasing sales of premium battery materials, but operating profit fell more than half year-on-year due to falling prices of metals such as lithium and nickel. POSCO Future M's third-quarter sales rose 22.1 percent year-on-year to 1.2858 trillion won, but operating profit fell 54.6 percent to 37.1 billion won over the same period.
AlphaBIZ 김지선(stockmk2020@alphabiz.co.kr)
