SEOUL :SK Innovation Co Ltd, owner of South Korea’s biggest oil refiner SK Energy, swung to an unexpected operating loss in the first quarter, but forecast refining margins would gradually recover this quarter amid higher driving season consumption.
The company posted an operating loss of 45 billion won ($32 million) for January-March, versus a 625 billion won profit a year earlier. That compared with analysts’ average forecast for a 393-billion-won profit, according to LSEG SmartEstimate.
The firm sank to loss as profits declined quarter-on-quarter at its refining, oil exploration and production, and lubricants businesses. Losses also deepened at its petrochemical business and persisted at its battery business as the global economic slowdown continued, the company’s earnings presentation showed.
First-quarter revenue rose 12.2 per cent to 21.1 trillion won.
Shares in SK Innovation closed down 2.5 per cent before the earnings announcement, versus the benchmark KOSPI’s 0.3 per cent fall.
($1 = 1,420.6900 won)
