Socar said on Wednesday it posted first-quarter revenue of 97.1 billion won and an operating profit of 1.4 billion won. Revenue fell 26.1 percent from a year earlier, but the company kept its operating profit in the black for a seventh consecutive quarter.

The revenue decline stemmed from a strategic reduction in the volume of used-car disposals in the subscription and commerce business. The company adjusted volumes in the first quarter, an off-peak season compared with peak periods, and revenue in the segment fell 63.4 percent from a year earlier to 18.7 billion won.

Its profitability structure improved. Gross profit margin (GPM) in the subscription and commerce business rose to 25.4 percent, and GPM in the core car-sharing business climbed 6 percentage points to 19.3 percent from 13.4 percent.

Revenue from the car-sharing business came to 72.1 billion won, down 3.3 percent from a year earlier. Gross profit (GP) rose 38 percent to 13.9 billion won on AI-based operational efficiency. Modu Parking posted a 27 percent rise in revenue from a year earlier, driven by the expansion of partner parking lots and growth in users.

Quarterly net loss widened to 8.8 billion won from 3.5 billion won a year earlier. Higher financial costs and a sharp rise in other expenses were key factors behind losses outside operating profit.

The effects of its Socar 2.0 strategy appeared in vehicle profitability indicators. Through a strategy to extend vehicle lifecycles by linking short-term car sharing with subscriptions, lifetime value (LTV) profitability for vehicles sold in the first quarter improved 48 percent compared with 2022 to 2023. Monthly revenue per vehicle and monthly GP per vehicle rose 11 percent and 34 percent, respectively, from before the Socar 2.0 strategy in the first quarter of 2023.

Socar declared a shift to "full-stack mobility" based on these results. It plans to build a product lineup spanning demand across the full vehicle lifecycle, from car sharing to weekly and monthly subscriptions, mid- to long-term use and used-car commerce. Using a fleet of 25,000 vehicles, data from 16 million members and nationwide vehicle delivery infrastructure, it aims to expand its business scope from a 1 trillion won car-sharing market to a market of more than 100 trillion won including rental cars and vehicle commerce.

In autonomous driving, it will set up APX Mobility with Krafton with capital of 150 billion won to speed up commercialisation. It plans to upgrade end-to-end autonomous driving technology using real-world driving and accident data averaging 1.1 million km per day generated by its fleet, and link that to autonomous car-sharing and ride-hailing services.

Socar CEO Jaewook Park (박재욱) said, "Through AI-based optimisation of vehicle operations and the Socar 2.0 strategy, we established a stable profitable structure even in the first quarter, a seasonally off-peak period." He added, "Now that we have improved the fundamentals of our core business, we will build new growth engines by developing a full-stack mobility platform and create a new benchmark for the future mobility industry through the commercialisation of autonomous driving services."