Lotte Chilsung Beverage will reorganise its board at a regular shareholders meeting on March 19. With a slowdown in performance continuing, the company is putting forward key finance and sales executives as candidates for inside directors, placing emphasis on restoring profitability. Attention is focused on Lim Jun-beom, head of the ESG division, a former finance chief, as he is being mentioned among candidates for the next chief financial officer.

At the meeting on the morning of March 19, Lotte Chilsung Beverage will put to a vote the appointment of Lee Yang-su, head of Sales Division 2, and Lim as inside directors. Lim, an executive director, is a finance and strategy-oriented figure who has worked in finance leadership roles, strategic planning and organisations related to GTM. Lee is a field-oriented executive serving as head of Sales Division 2. By positioning key sales and finance figures at the forefront at the same time, it is being interpreted as an intention to tackle two tasks together: expanding sales and improving cost efficiency.

Attention is focused in particular on Lim's return to the board. In addition to leading the ESG division, Lim has experience across finance and strategy. After serving as head of the Beverage Finance Team at Lotte Chilsung Beverage, Lim was first appointed an inside director in 2019, the following year, as head of the finance division. Lim served as head of the strategic planning division from 2020 to 2022 and as head of the Beverage GTM division in 2023. After resigning as an inside director, Lim served as head of the GTM1 division in 2024 and as head of the ESG division in 2025. With Lotte Chilsung Beverage again bringing forward personnel from not only finance but also strategic planning and ESG, Lim is expected to play a major role. Lotte Chilsung Beverage currently has Song Hyo-jin serving as head of the finance division and holding the CFO post since 2020.

Weak performance is cited as the backdrop to the changes. Lotte Chilsung Beverage's consolidated revenue last year was 3.97 trillion won and operating profit was 167.2 billion won, down 1.3 percent and 9.6 percent, respectively, from a year earlier. By segment, both beverages and liquor have not been able to escape weak results. Revenue in the beverage segment was 1.81 trillion won and revenue in the liquor segment was 752.7 billion won, down 4.9 percent and 7.4 percent, respectively, from a year earlier.

With both beverages and liquor failing last year on a consolidated basis to defend profits, the interpretation is that simply recovering sales is not enough. That is cited as the reason this board reshuffle is focused on expanding sales and reorganising finance and strategy functions.

Lotte Chilsung Beverage's recent efficiency drive is also not unrelated. The company is moving to close its Gwangju and Opo plants within the year. In November last year, it implemented a voluntary retirement programme for the first time in the company's 75-year history, targeting employees with at least 10 years of service who were born before 1980. The company-wide effort to improve its business structure underlies the background to Lim, who has broad finance and strategy experience, returning to the board.

Lim is expected to move ahead with efficiency measures after returning as an inside director. Lotte Chilsung Beverage is currently carrying out efficiency work in its logistics division. In April last year, it opened the Gangneung RDC, a regional distribution centre, and it is preparing to open the Daejeon RDC this year.

The appointment of Lee as an executive director is being interpreted in the same context. In Lotte Group's executive reshuffle last year, Lee was promoted to executive director. Lee has worked in sales roles including head of the Channel Strategy Division from 2020 to 2021, head of Sales Division 4 from 2021 to 2025 and head of Sales Division 2 from 2025.

With this board reshuffle, the management of Lotte Chilsung Beverage under Chief Executive Park Yoon-gi is expected to place emphasis on internal management. During Park's tenure, the company expanded its lineup of zero-sugar beverages and posted global results including a turnaround to profitability at its overseas subsidiary Philippines Pepsi (PCPPI). It is an assessment that Park was able to remain in his post even amid last year's high-intensity reshuffle of Lotte Group executives. While the early period produced results such as the success of zero-sugar beverages, Park has now taken on the task of improving management efficiency through organisational changes and reorganising the finance and strategy lines.

A Lotte Chilsung Beverage official said there is nothing confirmed, adding that matters such as appointing Lim as CFO will be decided after the March 19 regular shareholders meeting.