Solus Advanced Materials Reports Q1 Sales of 123.6 Billion KRW, Up 39% Year-on-Year

The Electronic Foil Division and Advanced Materials Division Achieve Record Quarterly Sales

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Sun-mi] Solus Advanced Materials announced on the 21st that its consolidated sales for the first quarter of this year were tentatively estimated at 123.6 billion KRW. This represents a 39% increase compared to the same period last year and a 29% increase compared to the previous quarter. Since its spin-off from Doosan Solus in October 2019, it has achieved its highest quarterly sales ever.

Although an operating loss of 2.4 billion KRW was recorded during the same period, the advanced materials division (Electronics Materials Headquarters and Bio Business Headquarters) successfully reduced the deficit by 43% compared to the previous quarter due to smooth operations. However, due to factors such as ▲ the sharp rise in European electricity costs following Russia's invasion of Ukraine ▲ increased fixed costs from the full-scale operation of the Hungary battery foil plant, temporary profitability decline occurred, resulting in a return to losses compared to the same period last year.

The battery foil division (Battery Foil Headquarters and Copper Foil Headquarters) recorded sales of 81.9 billion KRW in the first quarter, marking the highest quarterly figure ever. In particular, the Battery Foil Headquarters increased its sales contribution by starting to supply battery foil to a global automaker with which it secured a new supply contract.

The advanced materials division (Electronics Materials Headquarters and Bio Business Headquarters) also achieved a record quarterly sales of 41.7 billion KRW. Thanks to the mass production of HTL (Hole Transport Layer), a core material for LG Display's OLED TVs, and Filler for QD-OLED, the Electronics Materials Headquarters led performance despite the seasonal off-season.

Solus Advanced Materials expects the steady sales growth across all business divisions to continue into the second quarter, increasing the visibility of performance improvement. Kwak Geun-man, CFO of Solus Advanced Materials, said, “We will achieve rapid financial improvement through growth strategies that simultaneously secure productivity and profitability in each business, including ▲ signing battery foil supply contracts with global battery manufacturers ▲ increasing the proportion of high-margin high-end copper foil sales for 5G ▲ establishing a mass production system at the OLED materials plant in China ▲ expanding overseas sales of cosmetic material ceramide.”