POSCO Chairman Choi Jeong-woo’s management tenet “Corporate Citizenship” has begun to pay off.
POSCO’s transitioning its business portfolio into a sustainable one has resulted in raising the combined capitalization to more than 100 trillion won, a three-fold jump over five years.
As a result, POSCO has recaptured the No. 5 conglomerate among Korean business groups by surpassing 100 trillion won.
The group’s six listed companies are POSCO Holdings, POSCO International, POSCO Future M, POSCO DX and POSCO Steeleon M-Tech.
POSCO Holdings saw 2023 Q2 operating profit rise to over 1 trillion won. The company logged 20,121 trillion won in sales and 1,326 billion won in operating profit in Q2 on a consolidated basis.
In particular, the business performance of POSCO Holdings’ battery material business was outstanding.
The company saw the battery material businesses log 842.5 billion won and 37.5 billion won in Q2 sales and operating profit, representing an 8 percent and a 124.6 percent jump over the previous quarter, respectively.
As for the portion of sales and operating profit, the figures account for 70.6 percent and 71.9 percent, respectively.
Chairman Choi’s strategies to invest in future growth industry engines, such as secondary battery material businesses, are evaluated to have borne fruit.
POSCO Group has been expanding its business portfolio fast toward the eco-friendly material sectors with POSCO Holdings taking the lead.
In the second half of the year, POSCO Group plans to concentrate its investments in the new secondary battery material and eco-friendly steel sectors.
The group’s investment budget for this year stands at 11.3 trillion won.
In 2018, POSCO Holdings acquired lithium salt lake mining rights in Argentina and a stake in the Pilbara lithium mine in Australia.
The company has been expanding secondary battery material production facilities there.
In July, POSCO Holdings secured the exclusive rights to develop green hydrogen in five consortium members, including Samsung Engineering and Engie of France.
Part of the green hydrogen will be utilized in Oman, and the remainder will be imported into Korea.
Under the deal, POSCO will be awarded with the exclusive rights of developing and producing green hydrogen for 47 years.
An image of the cover of the 2022 Sustainability Citizenship Report, released by POSCO Holdings.
POSCO Holdings Releases Sustainability Citizenship Report Highlighting ESG Performance
POSCO Holdings on July 20 released the 2022 Sustainability Citizenship Report, which describes its ESG performance for the first year since its transition to a holding company.
To proactively respond to global ESG disclosure requirements, POSCO Holdings detailed its performance on key ESG issues in the order of “governance, strategy, risk management, indicators and goals” in the report, based on the disclosure recommendations of the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) under the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS).
A distinct feature of the report is that it has standardized and integrally verified the ESG data of POSCO Holdings and its seven major operating companies, and presented it in a clear and coherent manner on a group level.
In the report, POSCO Holdings established a special page detailing its progress and improvement plans for key investor inquiries such as climate change response, supply chain management, and human rights.
In particular, the report systematically identified and assessed the physical risks associated with climate change at its major domestic and overseas business sites.
It also introduced the case of successful recovery of the Pohang Steelworks from Typhoon Hinnamnor, which demonstrated its effective handling of physical risks.
In addition, the ESG Issue Paper transparently presents accurate facts and responses to human rights and environmental issues at POSCO’s global business sites.
Choi Jeong-woo, POSCO Group Chairman, said in a greeting, “In the future, corporate competitiveness will be determined by the competitiveness of the ecosystem comprising stakeholders around the company, such as partners, suppliers, customers, and the local communities.”
He added, “Through eco-friendly investments, we will continue to grow into a 100-year company that enhances the competitiveness of the eco-friendly, low-carbon industrial ecosystem and adds value to the world.”
The 2022 Sustainability Citizenship Report can be accessed on the official website of POSCO Holdings.
Meanwhile, POSCO Group plans to actively respond to global ESG disclosure requirements by expanding and operating an internal platform that systematically collects and manages ESG data at the group level.
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