[Conference Call] Ecopro Swings to Annual Profit on Indonesian Investment Gains... Operating Profit of 233.2 Billion Won (Comprehensive)

Fruition of Indonesian Smelter Investments
Profitability Recovery on Strong Metal Trading
Boost from Rebound in European EV Sales

Ecopro successfully returned to an annual profit last year, backed by returns from its investment in a smelter in Indonesia and rising metal prices. Despite slowing electric vehicle demand, the company is being evaluated as having translated business portfolio diversification, intensive management efficiency measures, and process innovation into improved earnings.

Ecopro Corporate Identity

On February 5, Ecopro announced that on a consolidated basis it posted sales of 3.4315 trillion won and operating profit of 233.2 billion won for last year. Sales increased by 10% year-on-year, and operating profit swung to a surplus. Ecopro Materials achieved a turnaround to a quarterly profit in the fourth quarter of last year, and major affiliates such as Ecopro Innovation are also seeing gradual improvement in business performance in line with the rebound in lithium prices.

The main drivers of this earnings improvement are cited as the performance of its investment in the Indonesian smelters and strong metal trading. Since 2022, Ecopro has invested about 700 billion won in four smelters within the Indonesia Morowali Industrial Park (IMIP). These smelter investments generated an investment gain of around 250 billion won last year, and the sale of nickel intermediate (MHP) secured from the smelters also contributed to the earnings improvement.

Improved external conditions, including rising metal prices and favorable exchange rates, also supported growth in sales and profit. As electric vehicle sales in Europe began to recover in the second half of last year, sales performances of cathode materials, precursors, and lithium at Ecopro Group’s major affiliates also showed an improving trend.

By affiliate, Ecopro Materials, which produces precursors, recorded standalone sales of 392.5 billion won and an operating loss of 65.4 billion won in 2025. Thanks to increased sales of precursors and metals, sales rose 31% year-on-year, but the company remained in the red on an annual basis. However, in the fourth quarter of last year, it posted a quarterly operating profit, driven by higher utilization rates and the reversal of inventory valuation allowances stemming from higher metal prices, raising expectations for a recovery in profitability.

Ecopro HN, which operates an eco-friendly materials business, posted consolidated sales of 141.1 billion won and operating profit of 11.7 billion won in 2025. Earnings were somewhat sluggish due to investment adjustments and utilization fluctuations at front-end semiconductor customers, but there have been signs of recovery as market conditions began to improve from the fourth quarter.

Ecopro has a relatively positive outlook on this year’s business environment. Reflecting the rise in metal prices, the company has revised upward its estimate of annual profits from investment and trading related to the IMIP smelters in Indonesia from an average of 180 billion won to about 220 billion won. By securing cost competitiveness through smelter investments, it also expects improved margins from higher product selling prices. With the upward trend in metal prices continuing, the company believes it can maintain an annual profit stance this year, following last year.

According to the market, as of the end of January this year, nickel prices had risen 16% compared with the end of the third quarter of last year, while lithium and cobalt prices climbed 98% and 62%, respectively, over the same period. Ecopro plans to actively respond to new application demand, including the growing energy storage system (ESS) market driven by AI data center expansion and batteries for robots.

In addition, to respond to sluggish electric vehicle sales, the company is strengthening profit and loss management at each business site and has carried out an organizational restructuring to enhance synergies among affiliates in areas such as quality and logistics. It is also accelerating cost reduction and strengthening competitiveness in its core business by pushing to introduce AI across all areas, including manufacturing R&D.

“To overcome the management crisis, we have focused on intensive management efficiency measures and on securing future growth engines such as the smelting business in Indonesia,” said Ecopro CEO Song Hojun. “This year, we plan to introduce AI across all business sites and strengthen our responsiveness to new applications such as robots, in order to firmly establish a stable profit-making structure,” he added.