Kim Jong-hoon, Chairman of SK Innovation Board, "COVID-19 Unavoidably Affects Performance"

[Asia Economy Reporter Park So-yeon] Kim Jong-hoon, Chairman of the Board of SK Innovation, forecasted that this year's performance will also be sluggish following last year due to the impact of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19).

In an interview with SK Innovation's internal news channel on the 24th, Chairman Kim said, "Since the beginning of this year, the sudden COVID-19 issue has inevitably had a negative impact not only on South Korea but on the global economy as a whole," adding, "The key is how quickly it will be resolved, but since we cannot yet say it is in a stabilization phase, this year also seems unlikely to be easy."

Chairman Kim stated, "However, we must not only worry. Companies should prepare for a 'Rainy day' when performance is good and must break through when conditions are unfavorable," emphasizing, "Only then does a company have value as a living entity."

He continued, "When facing difficulties head-on, a path becomes visible," and added, "I approached the Korea-US Free Trade Agreement (FTA) negotiations with that mindset." He stressed, "As a global company, SK Innovation will definitely overcome the current difficulties and continuously create added value to fully meet the expectations of stakeholders."

To this end, he said, "Last year, refining margins were poor, and stock prices did not meet expectations, so we gave much thought to maximizing shareholder value," adding, "As already disclosed, the board's decision to repurchase treasury shares is also part of efforts to enhance shareholder value."

Meanwhile, SK Innovation recorded an operating profit of 1.2693 trillion KRW last year on a consolidated basis, down 39.6% from the previous year. Sales decreased by 8% to 49.8765 trillion KRW compared to the previous year. Net profit fell 96.1% to 65.8 billion KRW. Overall performance worsened due to deteriorating business conditions such as the petrochemical industry downturn.