Seoul: LG Energy Solution Ltd., South Korea's leading battery maker, on Thursday reported a fourth-quarter net loss of 772.5 billion won (US$541.3 million), remaining in the red compared with a year ago, amid an ongoing slump in electric vehicle (EV) demand.
According to Yonhap News Agency, the company announced in a regulatory filing that it continued to post an operating loss of 122 billion won for the October-December period, compared with a loss of 225.5 billion won a year earlier. Sales fell 4.8 percent on-year to 6.14 trillion won.
The loss was nearly fivefold, or 391.4 percent, higher than the average estimate, according to a survey by Yonhap Infomax, the financial data firm of Yonhap News Agency.
LG Energy Solution reported it has received a tax credit of 332.8 billion won through the Advanced Manufacturing Production Credit (AMPC) under the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act. Excluding the AMPC, the company recorded an operating loss of 454.8 billion won in the fourth quarter.
For all of 2025, the company's net income totaled 80.8 billion won, a decrease of 76.1 percent from the previous year. The operating profit for the year rose 133.9 percent on-year to 1.34 trillion won, while annual sales decreased 7.6 percent to 23.67 trillion won.
"Last year, due to various policy changes affecting the EV sector, the overall demand environment contracted, leading to an on-year decrease in sales of 7.6 percent," the company said in a release. LG Energy Solution noted that its annual operating profit more than doubled as it focused on selling high-margin products and began full-fledged production of new energy storage system (ESS) batteries in the North American market.
Looking ahead to 2026, LG Energy Solution announced plans to expand its annual sales by 15-20 percent by concentrating on small batteries and the ESS segment.