SK Innovation swings to Q2 profit, tops estimates as refining rebounds

SK Innovation swings to Q2 profit, tops estimates as refining rebounds SEOUL, July 30 : SK Innovation, the owner of South Korea's top refiner SK Energy, posted an operating profit of 3.5 trillion won ($2.44 billion) for the April-June period, swinging to profit from a 402 billion won loss a year earlier. The result compared with an LSEG SmartEstimate forecast of 1.3 trillion won, which is weighted toward analysts who are more consistently accurate. Here are some details: • Second-quarter revenue rose 49.9 per cent to 29.2 trillion won from the same period a year earlier. • SK On, which supplies batteries to Volkswagen, Hyundai Motor and Ford Motor, among others, reported an operating profit of 822 billion won in the second quarter, driven by one-off customer compensation payments, as well as cost reductions, higher sales in Asia and increased U.S. Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) tax credits. • SK On's customer Ford, which on Tuesday raised its annual profit outlook for a second time this year, reported a second-quarter net loss of $1.3 billion due to a $3.6 billion charge related to a previously announced dissolution of a battery joint venture with SK On. • SK Innovation, which has total refining capacity of 1.115 million barrels per day at its plants in Ulsan and Incheon, said it expects petroleum market conditions to soften in the third quarter as higher OPEC+ output and increased refinery operating rates across Asia temper recent gains in oil prices and refining margins. • The company said that market conditions were expected to remain highly volatile, depending on developments including shipping traffic through the Strait of Hormuz and the Red Sea, the extent of damage to Russian refining facilities, and changes in the supply and demand balance for crude oil and petroleum products.($1 = 1,437.0000 won)