Lotte Chemical reported a 3.4% increase in sales for the second quarter of 2024, reaching 5.25 trillion KRW (approximately $4.0 billion). However, the South Korean chemical giant continued to experience financial difficulties, posting an operating loss of 111 billion KRW ($85 million), an improvement from the 135 billion KRW ($103 million) loss in the first quarter.
The company’s EBITDA rose slightly to 208 billion KRW ($159 million), compared to 172 billion KRW ($131 million) in the previous quarter, suggesting modest operational improvements. The pre-tax income remained negative at 123 billion KRW ($94 million), highlighting ongoing challenges in the global chemical market.
Lotte Chemical’s financial position shows a 1.7% increase in assets, amounting to 35.71 trillion KRW ($27.3 billion), while liabilities rose by 4.3% to 15.34 trillion KRW ($11.7 billion), leading to a debt-to-equity ratio of 75.3%. The company’s profitability metrics, such as Return on Equity (ROE) and Return on Assets (ROA), continued to reflect the challenges, with ROE at -1.8% and ROA at -0.8%.
Despite these challenges, Lotte Chemical remains optimistic, expecting improvements in the supply-demand balance and reduced freight costs to help mitigate ongoing losses. The company is also focused on expanding its global customer base and diversifying its product portfolio to support future growth.
