LGES Q1 profit falls less than expected as battery sales to Tesla rise
2022.04.27 03:36
FILE PHOTO: An employee walks past the logo of LG Energy Solution at its office building in Seoul, South Korea, November 23, 2021. REUTERS/Kim Hong-Ji
By Heekyong Yang and Byungwook Kim
SEOUL (Reuters) – South Korea’s LG Energy Solution Ltd on Wednesday reported a smaller-than-expected 24% drop in quarterly profit as strong sales of its cylindrical batteries to Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Inc offset a hit to production due to chip shortages.
Operating profit declined to 259 billion won ($205.01 million) for the January-March period from 341 billion won a year earlier, said the South Korean battery giant, which also counts as customers General Motors Co (NYSE:GM) and Volkswagen AG (OTC:VWAGY).
An average of 16 analyst estimates was profit of 141 billion won, according to Refinitiv SmartEstimate.
Revenue rose 2.1% to 4.3 trillion won.
The company, which also supplies batteries to electric-vehicle maker Lucid, said last month it plans to invest 1.7 trillion won to build a battery factory in Arizona by 2024 to meet demand from prominent startups and other North American customers.
Shares of LGES, carved out of LG Chem Ltd in a market debut in January, were trading down 4.4% versus, the benchmark KOSPI‘s 1.9% fall as of 0013 GMT.
($1 = 1,263.3300 won)
