LIG Defense&Aerospace (LIG D&A) posted a record quarterly operating profit in the first quarter this year, helped by expanded exports including the Cheongung-II, the "Korean-style Patriot."
On the 7th, LIG D&A said its first-quarter operating profit on a consolidation basis came to 171.1 billion won. That was up 56.1% from a year earlier, the highest for any quarter. Revenue rose 28.7% to 1.1679 trillion won.
Of that, export revenue jumped 119.0% to 405.2 billion won. The share of exports in revenue also expanded to 34.7% this year from 20.4% in the first quarter last year. Domestic revenue was 182.7 billion won for research and development and 580.0 billion won for mass production. Those figures were up 3.6% and 6.2%, respectively, from a year earlier.
By business division, guided weapons such as Cheongung and Haegung recorded 689.0 billion won in revenue, up 62.0% from the same period a year earlier. They accounted for 59.0% of total revenue. This was driven by the full-fledged recognition of sales to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) under the Cheongung-II program. Cheongung-II accounted for 34.7% of total exports.
With the mass production program for the homegrown KF-21 fighter jet in full swing, the aviation and electronics segment also rose 75.7% to 188.3 billion won. However, revenue from command and control (156.6 billion won) and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (108.2 billion won) fell 30.0% and 13.5%, respectively.
As of the end of the first quarter, LIG D&A's order backlog stood at 25.31 trillion won. Of that, export programs accounted for 14.17 trillion won and domestic programs 11.14 trillion won. For exports, the Middle East-bound Cheongung-II backlog was 9.999 trillion won, or 70.5% of total export backlog.
An LIG D&A official said, "With the inclusion of Middle East export results for Cheongung-II and the ramp-up of domestic mass production and overseas export programs, the prospects for further earnings improvement remain strong," adding, "LIG D&A plans to accelerate its Middle East business by establishing a local subsidiary in the UAE within the year."