Samsung SDI to recover earnings in H2

Samsung SDI forecast improved earnings for the latter half of this year, but due to a dip in the second quarter in the areas of polymer batteries and display materials, the company would be downward adjusting its bottom line for this year.

During its first quarter earnings report on April 29, Samsung SDI said its business will start to pick up in the third quarter on growing demand for mid and large-size batteries and Energy Storage Systems.

But its polymer battery business – accounting for around 30% of the company’s overall sales – is likely to suffer on the sluggish smartphone and device market, said the Samsung affiliate, adding it would seek to compensate for the losses with micro-sized batteries for wireless earphones and EV batteries.

Its electronic materials business is likely to post KRW 600 billion of sales in the second quarter, as figures for its semiconductor materials improve while its display materials segment suffers on the impact of the coronavirus that has dampened demand for smartphones.

Regarding CAPEX, Samsung SDI said while it will make adjustments, the company will remain on course in terms of investment for EV battery-making facilities. This means investment into its second plant in Hungary and to develop the Gen-5 batteries will stay intact.

In the first quarter, Samsung SDI saw its sales rise 4% on-year to KRW 2.4 trillion, while operating profit tumbled 54.6% to KRW 54 billion to beat the market consensus of KRW 36 billion. On-quarter, sales fell 15% and operating profit rose 168.7%.

The Elec is South Korea’s No.1 tech news platform.