EcoPro protects quarterly profit via Indonesian nickel refining

EcoPro posted consolidated operating profit of 11.2 billion won ($8.3 million) on Nov. 5, 2026, down 92.5% from a year earlier as battery raw material declines squeezed its core manufacturing units.

South Korea's largest cathode materials producer stayed profitable primarily because upstream nickel smelting recovered in Indonesia while cleanroom equipment affiliate EcoPro HN posted surging filter sales to semiconductor fabs.

Consolidated revenue fell 15.5% year-on-year to 810.7 billion won ($603.9 million), according to provisional figures filed with the Financial Supervisory Service. Lower metal prices and foreign exchange shifts drove a consolidated net loss of 135.1 billion won.

Cumulative revenue for the first nine months of the year reached 2.45 trillion won. Cumulative operating profit over the same period stood at 101.1 billion won, the company said in a regulatory filing.

EcoPro HN lifted group earnings by generating an operating profit of 11.3 billion won, a 386.3% jump year-on-year. The environmental affiliate effectively matched the holding company's entire consolidated operating result for the quarter.

Revenue at EcoPro HN expanded 86.0% to 52.8 billion won. Strong demand for chemical filters used in semiconductor cleanrooms drove the order expansion as chipmakers upgraded manufacturing infrastructure.

EcoPro HN recorded a cumulative nine-month operating profit of 22.1 billion won. That performance surpassed the unit's full-year operating profit of 11.7 billion won recorded across all four quarters of 2025.

Flagship cathode producer EcoPro BM generated 557.9 billion won in revenue and 12.0 billion won in operating profit. Operating profit dropped 76.2% compared with the same period last year.

Electric vehicle cathode deliveries slowed in North America, but expanding energy storage system orders for artificial intelligence data centers sustained shipments at EcoPro BM, the company said.

Precursor maker EcoPro Materials remained in the red, recording an operating loss of 29.0 billion won on revenue of 181.1 billion won. The company's operating deficit widened from the previous quarter.

Lower precursor shipments and metal price drops forced inventory valuation write-downs at EcoPro Materials. Weak won-dollar currency dynamics also weighed on precursor export earnings during the three-month period.

The parent holding company's standalone business, which manages direct metal trading and corporate investments, generated 78.3 billion won in revenue. That marked a 12.7% rise compared with the third quarter of 2025.

Upstream nickel procurement showed operational progress following previous line adjustments. The Green Eco Nickel smelting facility in Indonesia returned to an operating rate of roughly 80% utilization during the quarter.

EcoPro also continued construction on its second Indonesian processing facility, the BNSI smelter. The group scheduled commercial mass production at the BNSI facility for the second quarter of 2027.

The group's battery recycling business generated 41.8 billion won in third-quarter revenue, up 8.6 billion won from the previous quarter. Lithium processing revenue reached 54.2 billion won during client line conversions.

EcoPro signed a toll-processing contract with a North American customer to treat black mass, a crushed powder from spent cells. The agreement followed United States export restrictions on black mass enacted on Aug. 27.

The group plans to begin commercial production at the BNSI nickel smelter in the second quarter of 2027 to lower upstream feed expenses.

The provisional earnings disclosure did not state third-quarter standalone operating profit for the parent company's metal trading unit, providing only the standalone revenue figure of 78.3 billion won.