■ Sales up by 8%, operating profit up by 21% YoY
■ The effect of capital investment in high-growth markets continues


LS Cable & System Asia (CEO Kwon, Yeong-Il) tentatively announced on April 10 that its Q1 sales would reach KRW 132.5 billion, up by 8% YoY, and its operating profit would amount to KRW 7.3 billion, up by 21% YoY.

LS C&S Asia’s Q1 operating profit is the largest ever since entering Vietnam in 1996 and its subsequent listing on the Korea Stock Exchange in 2016.

The company explained that the main reason for this increase is because profitability in its power distribution division, its key business (medium-to-low voltage cable) rose substantially over the previous year. However, it added that losses on foreign currency transactions widened over the previous year due to sudden changes in exchange rates. Pre-tax income decreased but this is deemed only temporary as there is no problem with its foundations for growth.

A company official said, “to meet the increasing demand for electric power in Vietnam, we have continuously increased capital expenditure, and the investment has taken effect since last year. Full-scale growth of the medium-voltage cables (MV), which saw additional investment for expansion completed this February, and the Myanmar production subsidiary (LSGM), which began at the end of 2018, will become additional growth engines for this year.”

Also, “as the COVID-19 pandemic has only continued, we are expected to have a tough time this year. But we will increase the number of domestic and global customers and minimize the influence of COVID-19 by using our stable production capacity to market aggressively in the Vietnamese power market that is relatively less affected by COVID-19 than the global market”.

LS C&S Asia is the holding company that operates two production subsidiaries in Vietnam (LS-VINA and LSCV) and one in Myanmar (LSGM). LS-VINA produces HV (high-voltage) and MV (medium-voltage) power cables and wire materials while LSCV produces communication cables such as UTP and optical cable, and MV (medium voltage) power cables and bus ducts. LSGM produces LV (low voltage) power cables and aerial wires.