Hanwha, Lotte post earnings from acquired petchem subsidiaries

According to media reports, the petrochemical subsidiaries that South Korea’s Hanwha Group and Lotte Group acquired from Samsung post strong performances in the chemical industry, which were reflected in their profits in 2016.

The reports revealed that Hanwha Total’s operating profit in 2016 is estimated at 1.4 trillion won ($1.20 billion), which indicates an increase of 76% from a year earlier and makes the company the first subsidiary of Hanwha Group to achieve a profit of more than one trillion won. Hanwha Group’s other subsidiary acquired from Samsung, Hanwha General Chemical’s operating profit is also estimated to have reached 250 billion won ($210 million) in 2016. The company produces PTA.

On the other hand, Lotte Advanced Materials, which was previously owned by Samsung and acquired by Lotte Group, is estimated to post an operating profit of more than 300 billion won ($255 million) in 2016. Another petrochemical company Lotte acquired from Samsung, Lotte Fine Chemical’s operating profit is also estimated to have reached 25 million won ($21 million) last year. After the acquisition, Lotte Chemical’s sales reached 15 trillion won (around $12.5 billion) in 2016, which created a competition between Lotte Chemical and LG Chem in order to be the top petrochemical company in the domestic chemical industry.