Operating loss in Q4 due to EV sales slowdown: LG Energy

Seoul, Jan 9 (IANS) LG Energy Solution Ltd (LGES), South Korea's leading battery maker, on Thursday estimated it swung to an operating loss in the fourth quarter from a year earlier amid slowing sales of electric vehicles (EVs).

In the three months ended in December, the company shifted to an operating loss of 225.5 billion won ($155 million) from an operating profit of 338.2 billion won in the year-ago period, the company said in a regulatory filing.

Sales are projected to fall 19 per cent to 6.45 trillion won in the fourth quarter from 8 trillion won a year ago, reports Yonhap news agency.

LGES sees the global EV markets as being in a stagnation phase, known as the "chasm," which is occurring before the widespread adoption of EVs.

The company has said it will expand its non-EV businesses, such as energy storage systems (ESS), while strengthening its competitiveness as a car battery supplier despite the "temporary" slowdown in EV demand.

For all of 2024, the company expected its operating profit to plunge 73 per cent to 575.4 billion won from 2.16 trillion won in the previous year.

Sales likely plummeted 24 per cent to 25.62 trillion won from 33.75 trillion won during the same period, the company said.

Its final earnings results are set to be released later this month.

To help ride out the EV chasm, the company plans to change some of the battery production lines in its global plants for the production of ESS, of which demand is on the rise.

In North America, LGES currently operates three battery cell plants -- the first and second plants under a joint venture with General Motors Co., and the third in Holland, Michigan. Additional plants are being constructed in the U.S. states of Michigan, Georgia and Ohio, as well as Ontario, Canada, under joint ventures with GM, Hyundai Motor Group, Honda Motor Co. and Stellantis N.V., respectively.

The company also has plants in South Korea, Poland, China and Indonesia.

—IANS

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