SKC

● Annual financial results announced on the 5th… External growth trend as revenue from core businesses rises

● Secondary battery material revenue rises toward North America… Semiconductor material business achieves record-high annual performance

● New CEO with semiconductor expertise recruited for Absolics… Aiming for phased progress by consolidating professional capabilities

SKC announced on the 5th that it recorded consolidated annual revenue of 1.84 trillion won and an operating loss of 305 billion won for 2025. Despite the changing market environment, revenue from core businesses has risen for two consecutive years, continuing the trend of external growth.

Looking at each business segment, the secondary battery material business established itself as a new growth engine, with sales of copper foil for North American ESS (Energy Storage System) surging by 133% compared to the previous year. In addition, sales of copper foil for electric vehicles also increased by 61% annually due to expanded demand following the expansion of major customers' US plants.

The semiconductor material business achieved record-high annual performance thanks to the demand for high-value-added products for AI data centers. In particular, the operating profit in the fourth quarter rose by 25.9% compared to the previous quarter, continuing the high-growth trend. The glass substrate business being conducted at the Georgia plant in the US achieved results in securing positive feedback from customers as a result of prototype simulation evaluations.

However, in the fourth quarter, one-time expenses of 316.6 billion won, such as impairment of tangible assets for the purpose of process efficiency in the secondary battery and chemical businesses, were reflected, leading to an expanded pre-tax loss. However, SKC believes it will be able to alleviate the burden of fixed costs in the future through preemptive asset restructuring.

Efforts to strengthen financial soundness along with asset structure improvement are also prominent. SKC has focused on liquidity management by securing a total of 893.3 billion won in cash annually through the issuance of perpetual exchangeable bonds (EB) and asset securitization of non-core businesses.

SKC plans to focus on profit recovery and enhancing financial stability through profitability-centered business operations this year. It plans to strengthen the management system centered on financial stamina and liquidity management until a complete profit turnaround and the full settlement of the glass substrate business.

The secondary battery material business will focus on operational efficiency based on the full-scale operation of the Malaysia plant and plans to raise annual sales by approximately 50% compared to the previous year in response to the expansion of global core customers' North American production bases.

The semiconductor material business will continue high growth of more than 20% compared to the previous year due to the continuous expansion of demand for AI data centers, and at the same time, it plans to promote the expansion of its product portfolio through joint development with customers and the expansion of production capacity in Vietnam.

The glass substrate business puts weight on enhancing execution. At the end of last year, SKC appointed CEO Kang Ji-ho, an expert from Intel and SK Hynix, and is accelerating the execution speed as an overwhelming front-runner by consolidating professional engineering capabilities. In particular, this year, it plans to make step-by-step progress through reliability tests with customers. SKC believes that glass substrates will become a 'game changer' in the semiconductor ecosystem and judges that it will be able to maintain a clear differentiation and technical gap with latecomers by aiming for high-value-added high-end product development.

An SKC official said, "Along with short-term performance management, we will closely examine the overall business structure and cost/expense structure from a more fundamental perspective," and "We will do our best to prepare a sustainable growth foundation so that we can continue our mid-to-long-term growth story."