SEOUL– LX International Corp., the trading arm of South Korea’s LX Group, said Thursday its first-quarter net more than doubled from a year earlier, boosted by a rise in commodity prices and shipping costs.
Net income came to 223.1 billion won (US$175.5 million) in the January-March period, compared with 97.8 billion won the previous year, the company said in a regulatory filing.
Operating income reached 245.7 billion won, more than a twofold increase from 113.3 billion won a year ago. Sales rose 33.5 percent on-year to 4.91 trillion won in the same period.
External conditions, such as the uptrend in coal and palm oil markets and the rise in shipping rates, helped boost the bottom line, along with the overall increases in the output of natural resources and the clients’ cargo volume, the company said in a release.
The price of Indonesian coal nearly doubled to $82 per ton in the past 12 months, with that of Australian coal soaring to $264 from $89 in the same period. Indonesian palm oil also saw its price hike to $1,085 per ton from $700, according to LX.
The benchmark Shanghai Containerized Freight Index also climbed to 4,864 points in the first quarter from 2,774 points a year earlier, the company said.
LX International, formerly LG International Corp. that was split from LG Group last year, is engaged in the development and trading of industrial materials, petrochemical products, and electrical and electronic components, as well as mining and logistics.
It has also been expanding its portfolio into the green materials segment, such as biodegradable plastics and biomass energy.
Shares in LX International jumped 4.79 percent to 39,350 won on the Seoul bourse Thursday, outperforming the broader KOSPI’s 1.08 percent gain. The earnings results were released after the market opened.
Source: Yonhap News Agency