South Korea’s top electric vehicle battery maker LG Energy Solution has elevated its sales target for this year, largely buoyed by an upbeat outlook for the second half. In its second-quarter earnings report in July, the company announced an upgraded growth plan, raising sales target this year to 22 trillion won ($16.8 billion), an almost 10 percent jump from the previous target of 19.2 trillion...

South Korean online lender K-Bank said Tuesday it posted the strongest performance for any first half on increased interest revenue. K-Bank's first-half net income stood at 45.7 billion won ($34.9 million), far beyond the 22.5 billion-won annual net profit of last year and marking the highest first-half earnings since its launch in 2017, the bank's data showed. The online lender attributed the ...

LG Chem Ltd. said Tuesday it will build two production facilities in the US state of Illinois with a US food processing company to produce a biodegradable plastic widely used in food packaging. Under the two joint ventures with Archer Daniels Midland Co. (ADM), an agricultural food processor and biosolution company, they will build a facility to annually produce 75,000 tons of polylactic acid (P...

South Korean conglomerate looks to build up green energy portfolio

South Korea's Hyundai Motor Group said Monday it ranked third in first-half global vehicle sales on increased high-end model sales despite the lack of automotive chips. Hyundai Motor Co., its independent Genesis brand and Hyundai's smaller affiliate Kia Corp. sold a total of 3.299 million vehicles in global markets in the January-June period, following Toyota Motor Group's 5.138 million units an...

Corporate Korea a major force behind Korea‘s rise to cultural superpower

Posco International, the trading arm of the Posco Group, said Friday that its board has approved a bill to absorb Posco Energy. The merger will be put to the vote at the general shareholders‘ meeting on Nov. 4 and finalized on Jan. 1, the company said in a statement. 100 shares of Posco International will be worth 116 shares of Posco Energy. Posco International will issue new shares according t...

Samsung Biologics has tentatively signed a deal worth 457 billion won ($350 million) with AstraZeneca on contract manufacturing, the company said in a regulatory filing Friday. The two sides reached the agreement in May last year, but was unveiling it this time as they were renewing the contract to include “increases in demand” from AstraZeneca. The renewed deal accounts for 29 percent of Samsu...

A major association for South Korea's car industry has sent a letter to the US House of Representatives and requested changes in tax incentives proposed under a major climate change and energy bill, stressing that they could put Korean carmakers on an unequal footing. The Korea Automobile Manufacturers Association (KAMA) said that it delivered the concerns regarding the tax breaks in the Inflati...

South Korean bio company Panacell Biotech said Wednesday it will start clinical trials to test the toxicity of natural killer cells, exosomes, and brown adiposed-derived stem cells when used to treat long COVID. Natural killer cells are immune cells that can kill tumor cells and cells infected with viruses. The biotech company said it can also be used to treat long COVID as well as other termina...

South Korean e-commerce giant, Coupang, raised its earnings forecast for the year after posting its first-ever profit for the entire business in the second quarter, as bigger operating cost savings and higher membership fees improved profitability, the company said Thursday. The company is betting on positive annual earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization, reversing the prev...

The electronic parts supplier LG Innotek was awarded with the Jaguar Land Rover Quality Certificate for two consecutive years, the company said Thursday. The certificate, awarded by UK car manufacturer Jaguar Land Rover, evaluates partner companies for their quality of components and compliance with delivery dates. LG Innotek has supplied DC-DC converters, components that convert high-voltage d...

SK Innovation Vice Chairman and CEO Kim Jun visited Poland to ask the Polish government for its support of South Korea’s bid to host the 2030 World Expo in Busan, the company said Thursday. Kim met with Waldemar Buda, the Polish minister of economic development and technology in Warsaw on Tuesday. SK IE Technology’s President Rho Jae-sok and Polish government officials were also present at th...

South Korean home appliance brand Coway said Wednesday that its second-quarter net profit rose 14.4 percent from a year earlier on the back of innovative product launches. The company logged 132.5 billion won ($101.7 million) in net profit between April and June, the company said. Operating profit went up 5.7 percent on-year to 176 billion won, while cumulative sales in 2022 increased 6.8 perce...

Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance Co., South Korea's No. 1 non-life insurer, said Thursday its second-quarter earnings rose 9 percent from a year ago thanks to a decreased loss rate. Net income came to 340.8 billion won ($261 million) in the April-June period, compared with 312.6 billion won a year earlier, the company said in a regulatory filing. Operating income expanded 8.4 percent on-year to ...