EcoPro’s Q2 earnings lag estimates; share plunges

South Korean battery materials maker EcoPro Co. has logged second-quarter earnings below consensus estimates. Its share price, which has soared more than 800% over the past six months on the junior bourse Kosdaq, plunged by 5.74% on Wednesday.

EcoPro, the holding company of cathode producer EcoPro BM Co. and chemicals firm EcoPro HN Co., posted 2.01 trillion won ($1.6 billion) in revenue and 166.4 billion won in operating profit for the April-June period in its preliminary report on July 12. Quarterly profit fell 2.1% on-year, while the revenue rose 60.2%.

The stock dropped by 5.74% to close at 920,000 won on Wednesday as its second-quarter revenue and operating profit underperformed consensus estimates by 7.5% and 26%, respectively.

Its second-quarter earnings are similar to those in the previous quarter, amid business variables such as falling mineral prices, an official from the holding firm said. It will disclose details of the April-June performance with a final report during a conference call on August 3, the official added.  

EcoPro has so far achieved about 40% of its 2023 revenue target, 10 trillion won. Its yearly revenue surpassed 1 trillion won for the first time in 2021 and exceeded 5 trillion won last year, powered by the fast-growing electric vehicle market.

The holding firm’s share has skyrocketed by more than 800% since January of this year, becoming the hottest stock in Korea. The share price hit 1,015,000 won on July 10, making it the first stock to have broken above 1 million won on the Kosdaq since 2007 when Dongil Steel Co. did so.
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The company’s disappointing quarterly performance also impacted its affiliates’ share prices on Thursday.

EcoPro BM stock declined 5.42% to close at 279,000 won on July 12, despite decent April-June earnings in a preliminary report. The cathode maker posted 1.91 trillion won in revenue, up 60.2% on-year, and 114.7 billion won in operating profit, up 11.5% from a year ago.

EcoPro HN, which makes chemical films to reduce greenhouse gases, logged 56.5 billion won in revenue and 11.2 billion won in operating profit for the second quarter. The figures respectively rose 20.4% and 37.6% on-year.

EcoPro BM and EcoPro are still the two largest firms by market cap on the Kosdaq as of July 12. EcoPro BM and the holding company logged 27.29 trillion won and 24.5 trillion won in market cap, respectively, followed by Celltrion Healthcare Co.’s 10.69 trillion won.

Write to Mi-Sun Kang at misunny@hankyung.com

Jihyun Kim edited this article.