SKC posted third-quarter revenue of 638.9 billion won and an operating loss of 49.6 billion won, it said on Tuesday. Revenue rose 26 percent from a year earlier and the operating loss narrowed 9.7 percent.

The deficit was driven by the copper foil business. Sales rose to 248.2 billion won on a gradual recovery in electric vehicle demand and growth in the North American energy storage system market, up about 49 percent from a year earlier. Operating loss reached 54.4 billion won due to one-off costs from streamlining domestic production facilities and a fixed-cost burden from the full-scale start-up of a plant in Malaysia, the company said.

The operating loss widened from 14.4 billion won in the previous quarter. Net loss for the quarter increased to 128.5 billion won from 99.0 billion won a year earlier. Net loss attributable to owners of the parent also rose to 128.4 billion won from 90.6 billion won a year earlier. For the first three quarters, revenue totalled 1.78 trillion won and operating loss was 92.8 billion won, down 53 percent from an operating loss of 197.4 billion won a year earlier.

SK Nexilis completed a shift to a Malaysia-centred production and sales system. It said this laid the groundwork to improve cost competitiveness. The company said its Malaysia unit expects to return to an operating profit in the fourth quarter as sales of copper foil for electric vehicles improve, North American ESS demand expands and higher selling prices are reflected in stages.

Other businesses posted profit. The semiconductor materials business recorded revenue of 71.8 billion won and operating profit of 21.8 billion won. The share of high value-added products for AI data centres increased, and sales grew in new non-memory areas such as automotive and robotics. Profitability of existing memory products also improved. The chemical business posted revenue of 317.3 billion won and operating profit of 13.4 billion won, extending a profit streak to a third straight quarter. EBITDA also remained positive for a third straight quarter.

An SKC official said, "Improvements in fundamentals by business and the outline of a turnaround are becoming clearer." The official added, "With preparations for a full-fledged turnaround completed, we will produce visible results by strengthening business competitiveness and improving profitability going forward."