Samsung SDI's Q3 2024 Net Profit Falls 63% to 230.4 Billion Won as Slowing European EV Demand Weighs on Battery Revenue
Samsung SDI Co., the South Korean battery and electronics materials maker, closed the third quarter of 2024 with a net profit of 230.4 billion won (US$166.6 million), down 63% from a year earlier, as slowing European demand for electric vehicles weighed on its prismatic battery business. Operating profit fell to 129.9 billion won from 465.2 billion won in the same quarter of 2023, a decline of about 72%, and revenue contracted 29.8% to 3.93 trillion won. The net result also missed the average estimate of analysts surveyed by Yonhap Infomax, who had pencilled in 254.8 billion won.
Q3 2024 in numbers
SEOUL, October 30, 2024 — Samsung SDI Co., a battery and electronics materials company headquartered in South Korea, has reported its results for the third quarter of 2024. The report was carried by Yonhap News Agency, whose article is available at https://en.yna.co.kr/view/AEN20241030002600320. Corporate announcements and investor materials of the company are published on its website at https://www.samsungsdi.com/.
The key reported figures for the third quarter of 2024 are as follows:
- net profit — 230.4 billion won (US$166.6 million), down 63% year on year;
- operating profit — 129.9 billion won, against 465.2 billion won in the third quarter of 2023, a decline of about 72%;
- revenue — 3.93 trillion won, down 29.8% year on year.
All three lines moved in the same direction: the quarter was one of contraction across the income statement, with the operating line falling the furthest in percentage terms of the three.
Why the quarter weakened
The company's own explanation of the result points to the battery business, where demand conditions turned against the product mix. Slowing European demand for electric vehicles reduced revenue from prismatic batteries, the cells supplied to carmakers for their European models. Utilization of cylindrical battery lines also fell, and currency movements added a further drag on the reported figures.
Three pressures named by the company
- slowing European EV demand, which hit prismatic battery revenue;
- lower utilization of cylindrical battery production;
- foreign exchange impacts on the reported result.
The company noted that the decline was partially offset by two counterweights: growth in batteries for energy storage systems and new pouch cells supplied for smartphones. These two lines softened the fall but did not reverse it.
The battery unit itself, the core of the company's earnings, recorded an operating profit of 63.5 billion won for the quarter, down 85% year on year. The scale of that decline shows how concentrated the pressure was in the segment that normally carries the result.
Below analyst expectations
The reported net profit of 230.4 billion won also fell short of market expectations. Analysts had forecast an average net profit of 254.8 billion won for the quarter, according to a Yonhap Infomax consensus cited in the report. The actual figure came in about 24.4 billion won below that average, meaning the quarter missed not only the prior-year comparison but also the level the market had projected.
Combined with the 29.8% revenue contraction and the roughly 72% fall in operating profit, the miss frames the third quarter of 2024 as a period in which both the company's own trajectory and external expectations moved against the result. The partial offsets from energy storage batteries and smartphone pouch cells limited the damage without changing the direction of the quarter.
Company information
Company: Samsung SDI Co.
Contacts: Samsung SDI corporate communications; media enquiries via https://www.samsungsdi.com/
Company website: https://www.samsungsdi.com/
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