LS to log record performance under new chief

By Kim Hyun-bin

LS is on track to reach a record-high performance under the leadership of LS Group Chairman Koo Ja-eun, who is scheduled to complete his first year in office, according to industry officials, Tuesday.

He was appointed as the group chairman in November 2021 and began his term in January this year. Under his leadership, LS Group is expected to record its highest performance ever thanks to the favorable performance of its main businesses and acceleration of new businesses.

LS Group Chairman Koo Ja-eun

In his inaugural address at the beginning of the year, Chairman Koo said, "We will maximize business synergies between existing main businesses and future new businesses through ambidextrous management."

He presented three key tasks: maximizing business synergy through ambidextrous management, globalization based on data assets and environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) management.

Ambidextrous management holds existing main businesses such as electricity, power and materials on one side and future leading technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), big data and the Internet of Things (IoT) on the other, and promotes business synergy in a balanced way.

In particular, Koo emphasized that he would seek new business opportunities in future industries leading to batteries, electric vehicles (EV) and semiconductors.

Last April, LS Group's holding company, LS, jointly established LS E-Link, an EV-charging company, with its affiliate E1. LS plans to use LS E-Link as its control tower organization overseeing the creation of synergy within the group by concentrating its business capabilities in the EV-charging field.

LS Cable & System's EV parts subsidiary LS EV Korea completed the construction of its plant in Gunpo, Gyeonggi Province, in May and is accelerating its business.

Another EV parts maker, LS Electric subsidiary LS Mobility Solutions, has established a production base in Mexico and started to enter the North American EV market. LS-Nikko Copper changed its name to LS MnM in October and made a fresh start, aiming to grow by adding the materials business to the existing metals business.

LS Cable, the only company that produces ultra-high-voltage submarine cables in Korea, received large-scale orders from around the world this year, amounting to about 1.2 trillion won ($934.5 million). Due to the increase in orders, LS Cable's order backlog increased from 1.9 trillion won at the end of 2019 to 2.4 trillion won at the end of the third quarter of this year.

LS Electric's DC power equipment and power infrastructure business continued to grow, as did LS Mtron's sales of tractors and premium injection molding machines exported to North America.