[Featured Stock] SK Chemical Rises Over 4% on Record-Breaking Earnings

SK Chemicals, which recorded its highest-ever separate basis performance last year, is showing strong gains in early trading on the 10th.

As of 9:02 a.m. on the day, SK Chemicals recorded 19,650 KRW, up 4.86% from the previous trading day.

On the 7th, SK Chemicals announced that it recorded separate basis sales of 1.3405 trillion KRW and operating profit of 111.1 billion KRW. Compared to the previous year, sales increased by 8.7% and operating profit by 30.0%. This is the highest performance since SK Discovery was launched in 2017 and split into a business company. Analysts attribute this to the shift in the portfolio focusing on specialty materials such as copolyester. Many petrochemical companies, which focus on basic chemical materials and general-purpose materials, are experiencing increased losses due to oversupply of low-priced products from China.

Kang Seok-ho, Head of Management Support at SK Chemicals, said, "The innovation of reorganizing the business over a long period by phasing out general-purpose materials and non-core businesses and focusing on specialties such as copolyester has led to performance improvement amid the recession. We plan to diversify the copolyester lineup through continuous product and technology innovation and establish the circular recycling materials business as another specialty pipeline."

Meanwhile, SK Chemicals posted an operating loss of 44.8 billion KRW last year, turning to a deficit compared to an operating profit of 84.4 billion KRW the previous year, and sales also decreased by 0.8% year-on-year to 1.7355 trillion KRW.