SKC (President & CEO Woncheol Park)
broke the 1 trillion won revenue mark for two consecutive years, posting 1.077 trillion won in Q2 revenue, up 30.2% from the same period of the previous year. Q2 operating income reached 109.4 billion
won, with the cumulative operating income of the first half of this year rising
to 242.4 billion won, 10.5% up from last year. Q2 operating income of the
company’s flagship product line - rechargeable battery copper foil products -
surged by even 57.4% from last year to attest to its growth prospects.

In SKC head office
in Jongro-gu on the 8^th, SKC announced the Q2 business performance
as summarized above, with the attendance of top management executives including
Director Lee, Yong-sun of the Industrial Material Business Division at SKC,
President & CEO Won, Ki-don at SK Pic Global, President & CEO Lee,
Jae-hong at SK nexilis, President & CEO Lim, Eui-joon at SK PU Core, and
President & CEO Kim, Jong-woo at SKC solmics to name a few. SKC’s business
performance presentation was also streamed live on the company’s YouTube
channel.

In Quarter 2, SKC
featured upturn in growth across the revenues of all business divisions. SK
nexilis, SKC’s rechargeable battery copper foil-producing subsidiary, posted
199.5 billion won and 29.6 billion won in revenue and operating income
respectively, which represented an increase of 26.6% in revenue and 57.4% in
operating income from last year, sustaining the company’s growth momentum. SK
nexilis is expected to release even higher performance figures in Quarter 3
when the company is likely to go into full production to meet battery demands
to be boosted by new models shipped by EV makers, etc.

SKC’s chemical business spearheaded by SK Pic Global posted
412.3 billion won in revenue and 69.5 billion won in operating income. Although
demands for propylene oxide (PO) products slipped from the previous quarter, rose
in high-value product propylene glycol (PG) and polyol, raw material for
polyurethane, propped up the business performance. PG sales to big accounts
will be expanded in Q3 _ base_d on the global logistics posts deployed until now.

The semiconductor material business led
by SKC solmics recorded 135.6 billion won in revenue and 6.3 billion won in
operating income. In spite of cost-push pressures, booming sales of high-value
products boosted up operating income in comparison with the previous quarter.
With its CMP pad under assessment and certification process of a new customer,
SKC solmics will have its blank mask – critical material for photolithography
process – certified by the customer and rolled out into commercial production
in Q3.

Industrial material business division
posted 321.1 billion won in revenue and 15 billion won in operating income. The
business division bolstered up eco-friendly and high-value products lineup in
response to increases in market volatility following the rise of raw material
prices. In Quarter 3 when the upstream industries are expected to remain
sluggish, with continued trends of cost growth, sales of high-value products
including OLED (organic light-emitting diode) display material, and eco-friendly
label materials will be expanded to secure profitability.

SKC is stepping
into high gear also on ESG management. The company’s MSCI ESG rating which is
one of the best-known global ESG assessment ratings was upgraded from BBB this
year from BB last year. Furthermore, the company reaffirmed its unwavering
commitment to transparency in ESG management by unveiling interim milestones to
reach Net-Zero by 2040 in a sustainability report released in July and publishing
an online ESG policy book featuring overhauled and compiled in-house policies
and regulations designed to enable stakeholders to understand SKC’s ESG
practices at a glance.

SKC also beefed up its governance. Appointing an outside
director as the chair of the board of directors (BoD) for the first time ever
this March in a move to strengthen the independence of the BoD, SKC adopted the
senior outside director system and organized a council staffed with only outside
directors in Q2 in a bid to better equip the outside directors to check,
balance and support the management leadership.

“In the first half of this year, we broke the 1
trillion won mark in Q1 and Q2 in a row and maintained the upward trends of financial
performance manifested by the upturn in the profitability of the rechargeable
battery copper foil business, putting a spur to ESG management with upgraded
ESG assessment rating and unveiled milestone to reach Net-Zero,” said an
official at SKC. “We will keep track of innovations in the second annual half
to become an ESG-committed global material solution provider.” [End]