POSCO Chairman Choi Jeong-woo.

POSCO Group posted about 5.5 trillion won in operating profit last year, the best in seven years. The group surpassed the 60 trillion won threshold in annual sales for the second straight year.

POSCO set the 2019 sales target at 66.3 trillion won. The group plans to raise annual sales to 78 trillion won by 2021. It has come up with strategies to diversify its business portfolios with a focus on increasing the portion of new growth business sectors such non-steel and secondary battery material businesses.

In a consolidated financial statement released at a conference call on Jan. 30, POSCO logged 64.977 trillion won in sales, 5.542 trillion won in operating profit and 1.892 trillion won in net profit last year.

The figures represent a 7.1 percent rise and a 19.9 percent surge in sales and operating profit, compared to the previous, but the group saw its 2018 net profit plunge 36.4 percent over 2017.

Despite unfavorable business conditions such as the sagging global economy, sluggish industry demand, and the strengthening of protectionism overseas, POSCO Group had managed to chalk up more than 1 trillion won in operating profit for the sixth straight quarter on the back of the expanded sales of value-added steel products and the improving of business performances by subsidiaries, POSCO Group official said.

An integrated steel mill in Indonesia and a car plate/cold-rolled steel production operation in India posted record operating profit since their establishment. The group’s good business performance was evenly led by POSCO Daewoo’s trade business, POSCO E&C’s construction business, and POSCO ChemTEC, a secondary battery material unit. But a loss in the transient evaluation of inventory, a drop in securities disposal proceeds, and a rise in corporate costs widened a decline in annual net profit, they said.

In the consolidated financial statement for the 4th quarter of 2018, POSCO Group posted 16.621 trillion won in sales. But POSCO suffered a net loss of 885.7 trillion won, stemming from its withdrawal from the synthetic natural gas business in the quarter.

POSCO decided to invest 6.1 trillion won this year, 2.7 trillion won more than 3.4 trillion won in 2018. POSCO set crude steel production and product sales goals for this year at 37.5 million tons and 35.7 million tons, respectively.

POSCO unveiled mid- and long-term business strategies, calling for raising sales to 78 trillion won and reducing its debt ratio to 65 percent by 2021.

The group also revealed a blueprint to achieve 78 trillion won in sales by 2021 by raising the competitiveness of the secondary battery material business.

The group plans to diversify the portion of the steel, non-steel and a combination of new growth sectors from 49 percent, 50 percent and 1 percent to 44 percent, 53 percent, and 3 percent by 2021, respectively.

POSCO decided to offer 10,000 won per share in dividend for 2018, 1,000 won more than the previous year.

A view of POSCO Center in Seoul. (Photos: POSCO)