POSCO Chairman Choi Jeong-woo.

After logging its first quarterly operating loss in 2020 Q2, POSCO bounced back to operating profit territory in Q3.

POSCO expects a better business performance in Q4 on the back of the resumption of global economic activities.

In particular, POSCO is solidifying its status as the world’s best steelmaker as the company has seen better share prices and credit rating compared to its rivals.

In a conference call held on Oct. 23, POSCO said it posted 6.577.9 trillion won in sales and 261.9 billion in operating profit in Q3.

On a consolidated financial statement in which its subsidiaries’ businesses were accounted for, POSCO Group chalked 14.261.2 billion won in sales and 666.7 billion won in operating profit during the same period.

It was the first time POSCO suffered a 108.5 billion won quarterly operating loss. But the steelmaker demonstrated solid business performance in Q3, bouncing back from its first quarterly operating loss.

The steel business saw steel sales recover to levels not seen since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The fixed cost burden declined and profitability improved on the back of retrenchment, even though raw material ore prices have risen.

The global infrastructure business showed a solid business performance on the back of a good performance on the part of POSCO E&C’s architecture business, POSCO Energy’s expanding of direct importing LNG and POSCO Chemical’s rising anode and cathode sales.

POSCO said, “Sales and operating profits are predicted to improve in the fourth quarter of the year as industry production is recovering thanks to the resumption of global economic activities and each country’s government is expanding economic stimulus policies.”

The steelmaker plans to expand business sales portfolio to EV, wind power, photovoltaic power and hydrogen car sectors while considering expanding production capacity of secondary battery raw materials.

Korea Investment & Securities said a rise in demand from overseas operations, which had maintained lower inventories, forecast to lead to improving of operating profit.

Outlooks for improving business performance is predicted to be maintained until next first half on the back of the expanding margin spread following rising sales and retrenchment.

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