CBI's Sales Reach 36 Billion KRW Last Year... 46% Increase YoY, 'Largest Since Establishment'

CBI, a specialized company in automotive materials and parts, announced on the 16th that its consolidated sales last year increased by 46% compared to the previous year to 36 billion KRW, and operating profit turned positive to 400 million KRW. This is the highest sales record since the company's founding.

On a separate basis, sales reached 33.6 billion KRW, and operating profit was 4.8 billion KRW. The company explained that it has established a growth foundation along with business normalization two years after the change in management rights.

A CBI representative said, "Following the record-high sales last year, as uncertainty increased due to the sharp rise in raw material prices, major customers began stockpiling inventory, leading to an increase in orders," adding, "The order volume increased by more than 50% compared to the same period last year."

He continued, "While improving production efficiency, we succeeded in raising prices by 10-40% per item through the rationalization of parts supply prices," and explained, "Sales also increased in the global market due to strong sales and exchange rate appreciation."

In particular, CBI generates more than half of its total sales from exports. Recently, it switched to an exclusive supply structure for BorgWarner Global, a major customer, and also supplies exclusively to GM, a South American automaker.

The representative said, "Last year, we supplied parts for about 2 million units to BorgWarner Global alone, recording annual sales of 7 billion KRW, and this year, with orders for 2.5 million units, sales of these parts are expected to increase to 8.2 billion KRW."

Meanwhile, CBI's bio business, which has been promoted since 2021, is also bearing fruit. Through its U.S. subsidiary CBI USA, it acquired shares and became the second-largest shareholder of the U.S. bio company Kineta (KINETA INC), which merged last year with Umanity Therapeutics (hereinafter Umanity), a Nasdaq-listed company in the U.S., and is now traded as a listed company under the name "KA." Accordingly, sales in the bio business division are also expected this year.

The representative added, "Despite the increase in sales scale and recording operating profit in the black, a net loss occurred due to financial costs and valuation losses from equity method application," and said, "New business sectors, including bio, are long-term and require time for evolution. Profit generation is expected in the new business sector this year, so a turnaround in net loss is also anticipated."