LG Energy Solution plans to increase sales by 8% in 2022

LG Energy Solution Ltd (LGES) announced on Tuesday that it plans to increase sales by about 8% in 2022, predicting an increase in demand for electric vehicle (EV) batteries as the global chip shortage eases later this year.

Even as the chip shortage affecting automakers led to weaker than expected demand for batteries, the newly listed South Korean firm, which accounts for a fifth of the global EV battery market, turned a profit in the October-December quarter.

LGES, which became South Korea's second-largest publicly traded company last month in the country's largest-ever initial public offering (IPO), reported a fourth-quarter operating profit of 76 billion won ($63.5 million) in its first earnings report. This compares to a profit estimate of 150 billion won from two analysts polled by Refinitiv and a loss of 479 billion won in the same period a year ago.

The global chip shortage has impacted automaker demand, according to analysts, with LGES rivals SK On and Samsung SDI Co Ltd reporting a similar impact on battery demand in the fourth quarter. LGES' revenue increased 2% year on year to 4.4 trillion won, with the company supplying Tesla Inc and General Motors Co, among others.The company said it will spend 6.3 trillion won on capital expenditures this year, up 58% from the previous year, to expand capacity at its global manufacturing facilities to meet the demand for batteries.

LGES had a stellar market debut in late January, surging to a market capitalization of around $98 billion, second only to Samsung Electronics Co Ltd on the local bourse, reflecting the EV battery industry's bright prospects. The company's stock has risen 8.5% since then, with another 2.2% added on Tuesday, outperforming the broader market KOSPI by 0.8%.

LGES planned to build a battery joint venture (JV) with Honda in the United States, according to a South Korean local newspaper in January.

LGES announced in late January that it plans to invest $2.6 billion in a third joint battery plant in the United States with GM, with the goal of securing an annual capacity of about 50-gigawatt hours (GWh) of batteries by 2025, enough to power about 700,000 electric vehicles. In Ohio and Tennessee, the two companies are already constructing two joint battery plants.

According to consulting firm Deloitte, global EV sales are expected to grow more than 12-fold to 31.1 million vehicles by 2030, accounting for nearly a third of all new vehicle sales.

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