TerraScience Expands New Growth Engines... "Focusing on Profit Turnaround in the Second Half"

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunseok Yoo] Terra Science announced on the 26th that it will focus on improving its performance in the second half of the year following intensive restructuring centered on profitability and the completion of new subsidiary acquisitions.

Terra Science expanded its new growth engines this year by entering the mini LED business and the global anticancer drug development business. In January, it acquired 100% of the shares of CLS Korea, a display specialist company. On the 20th, it secured a 30.2% stake in the global bio-specialized company OncoPep, becoming the largest shareholder.

Through the acquisition of two subsidiaries with future growth potential, Terra Science plans to achieve visible growth in both sales and profits this year.

CLS Korea is a display component manufacturing specialist company engaged in the production of LCD optical sheets and OLED optical components based on mini LED optical parts. Since its establishment in 2017, it has supplied mini LED parts, LCD optical parts, and OLED parts to SOLATRON, Samsung Electronics, and LG Display, based on production plants in Korea and Vietnam.

CLS Korea is expected to experience significant external growth this year, driven by the expansion of orders for mini LED parts, which have recently seen a surge in demand. This is because global TV manufacturers, including Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics, plan to launch mini LED TVs this year to target consumer demand in the transitional stage before next-generation self-luminous TVs.

US-based OncoPep is a company specializing in the development of anticancer vaccines using the immuno-oncology vaccine pipeline ‘PVX-410’. OncoPep holds four FDA (U.S. Food and Drug Administration) pipelines, including triple-negative breast cancer and multiple myeloma, and is currently advancing Phase 2 FDA clinical trials for metastatic triple-negative breast cancer using PVX-410 and Merck’s Keytruda.

Additionally, OncoPep has already signed an underwriting agreement for listing on KOSDAQ and recently completed a successful Pre-IPO funding round of $10 million (11 billion KRW), officially beginning preparations for its listing.

A company official stated, “To create future growth engines, we aggressively pursued business diversification this year, including the mini LED business and anticancer drug business. Thanks to the improved performance of CLS Korea in the first quarter, Terra Science’s sales increased by 185% year-on-year, recording triple-digit growth.”

He added, “In particular, the TV market is expected to be led by mini LED TVs in the future, so based on the expansion of CLS Korea’s orders, Terra Science will be able to maximize sales and operating profits. OncoPep is also actively preparing for its KOSDAQ listing next year, and as the entire company is making efforts to turn profitable in the second half of the year, we plan to continue efforts to enhance corporate value and shareholder value this year.”