ICIS Chemical Business Names LG Chem the ICIS Company of the Year
By Icis Chemical Business, PRNESunday, September 26, 2010
NEW YORK and LONDON, September 27, 2010 - ICIS Chemical Business magazine is pleased to announce that South
Korea-based LG Chem has been named the ICIS Company of the Year.
"Congratulations to LG Chem for an outstanding financial performance in
2009 - a difficult year in which most companies struggled with the impact of
the global economic crisis," said Joseph Chang, Global Editor of ICIS
Chemical Business. "We commend CEO Peter Bahnsuk Kim and his team for their
superb efforts."
In 2009, LG Chem registered an 8% increase in group sales in local
currency, a 45% increase in operating profits and a 51% jump in net income
for the year at a time when so many other firms experienced the worst of the
slump, noted ICIS Insight Editor Nigel Davis.
LG Chem attributed the results to outstanding individual business
performance, as well as favorable external market factors - the weak Korean
currency, the impact on petrochemicals of more stable oil prices and China's
economic stimulus packages.
"This award marks a symbolic achievement for LG Chem. LG Chem's
significant outperformance results from its tireless efforts to create
innovation and introduce a new culture of change to the organization, while
improving global competitiveness as well," said LG Chem CEO and vice chairman
Peter Bahnsuk Kim.
He added that LG Chem's "success DNA" will help its business grow further
as a leading global company, focusing not only on the petrochemical and
information and electronic materials businesses, but also on new businesses
such as advanced batteries for electric vehicles.
Based on the analysis of the ICIS Top 100 Chemical Companies, a global
ranking based in US dollars, sponsored by leading logistics and supply chain
company Damco, LG Chem ranked #22 with $11.8bn in sales and $1.67bn in
operating profit in 2009 - up from #35 in the rankings a year ago.
The petrochemicals unit saw sales fall by 4.3%, but pushed operating
profits 61.5% higher. Information and electronic materials sales accounted
for 31% of the consolidated group total for the year and were up by 55.4% on
2008. The division's operating profit was up by 10.4%.
"LG Chem's most visible growth engine is its automotive battery
business," said Davis.
The company has an exclusive contract with US automaker General Motors to
supply batteries for the Chevy Volt, and has pursued similar contracts in
China and South Korea.
LG Chem subsidiary, Compact Power, began building a $300m lithium ion
battery plant in Holland, Michigan, US, in July. US President Barack Obama
attended the groundbreaking ceremony.
See the ICIS Company of the Year article in ICIS Chemical Business at
tinyurl.com/ICISCompanyOfTheYear2010 .
The ICIS Top 100 Chemical Companies table was compiled by Lara McNamee
and the ICIS data & analytics team led by Paul Ray.
A PDF of the ICIS Top 100 Chemical Companies is available for download at
www.icis.com/Top100
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Damco
As part of the A.P. Moller-Maersk Group, Damco offers a broad range of
supply chain management and freight forwarding services to customers all over
the world, and has 10,500 employees in over 280 owned offices across 90
countries with representation in 120 countries in Africa, Asia, Australia,
North America, Europe, Middle East, and Latin America.
www.damco.com
For media inquiries, contact: Joseph Chang Global Editor ICIS Chemical Business T: +1-212-791-4224 joseph.chang@icis.com www.icis.com/magazine www.icis.com Nigel Davis ICIS Insight Editor T: +44-20-8652-3397 nigel.davis@icis.com Anthony Elwine Industry Head - Chemicals Middle East Region Damco Dubai, United Arab Emirates T: +971-4-5086-207 anthony.elwine@damco.com www.damco.com
For media inquiries, contact: Joseph Chang, Global Editor, ICIS Chemical Business, T: +1-212-791-4224, joseph.chang at icis.com ; Nigel Davis, ICIS Insight Editor, T: +44-20-8652-3397, nigel.davis at icis.com ; Anthony Elwine, Industry Head – Chemicals, Middle East Region, Damco, Dubai, United Arab Emirates, T: +971-4-5086-207, anthony.elwine at damco.com .
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