[Featured Stock] Sangbo Turns Profitable After Long Tech Development... Graphene Barrier and Silver Nanowire Commercialization Imminent

Driving Performance with Newly Developed Compact Hybrid Optical Films for Mobile and Tablet
Expecting Earnings Surprise in the Second Half

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyungsoo Park] Sangbo's stock price is showing strength, buoyed by news of strong performance in the second quarter of this year.

As of 12:29 PM on the 13th, Sangbo is trading at 1,070 KRW, up 5.94% from the previous day.

Sangbo announced that it recorded consolidated sales of 14.8 billion KRW and operating profit of 2 billion KRW in the second quarter of this year. Operating profit turned positive compared to the same period last year.

For the first half of the year on a consolidated basis, the company reported sales of 26.5 billion KRW, operating profit of 1.2 billion KRW, and net profit of 3.8 billion KRW as of the 13th. On a separate basis for the same period, it achieved sales of 26.7 billion KRW, operating profit of 1.1 billion KRW, and net profit of 900 million KRW.

Facing intense competition in the large display optical film market for TVs and monitors, Sangbo developed new small-sized composite optical films for mobile phones and tablets. After passing strict product evaluations by major domestic and international corporate clients, it has been mass-producing and supplying these small-sized composite optical films for mobile phones and tablets since the first half of this year.

Amid the global spread of COVID-19, sales of window films increased by more than 10% compared to the same period last year, improving profitability.

A company official explained, "Regarding the small-sized composite optical films for mobile phones and tablets, in addition to the mass-produced products reflected in the June performance, products that passed customer certification after June have also started mass production," adding, "We expect even more remarkable performance in the second half of this year."

He continued, "New products developed through research and development, such as graphene barriers and silver nanowires, are also expected to drive external growth in the second half of this year and next year."

Sangbo has secured graphene exfoliation and dispersion technology based on wet nano-dispersion technology. By combining barrier matrices and exfoliated graphene, it succeeded in developing a wet coating process graphene barrier composite film with minimal defects and flexibility, achieving gas and water vapor barrier levels of 10-1.

Starting mass production of graphene barrier films for QuantumDot displays, the company is developing technology to expand applications to products requiring high barrier properties such as flexible OLEDs.

Silver nanowire (AgNW) films are transparent electrode films made by coating AgNWs dispersed in aqueous solution onto substrates. Silver nanowires are silver processed to the nanoscale. Compared to conventional ITO films made from rare earth materials, AgNW films have lower resistance and higher flexibility, making them known as one of the materials suitable for replacing ITO films and for flexible displays.

Sangbo possesses core technologies for etch-free pattern formation and commercialization of AgNW transparent electrodes and has mass-produced touch films for large displays such as electronic whiteboards. The company continues research and development for application in flexible displays.