Iljin Electric posted its best-ever first-quarter results, powered by rising demand for power infrastructure as the United States replaces its aging grid and global data center investments expand.
Iljin Electric said on the 15th that it posted consolidation-based first-quarter revenue of 506.1 billion won and operating profit of 50.7 billion won. Compared with a year earlier, revenue rose 10.6% and operating profit increased 49.1%. The operating margin was 10%, up 2.6 percentage points from 7.4% a year earlier.
Compared with the securities market consensus, revenue fell 3.7% short of the 525.5 billion won forecast, but operating profit beat the 45.1 billion won estimate by 12.4% on improved profitability.
By business, both the wire business and the heavy electrical equipment business continued to grow. First-quarter revenue from the wire business was 384.7 billion won, up 0.8% from a year earlier. Revenue from the heavy electrical equipment business, which produces transformers and circuit breakers, was 120.7 billion won, up 60.6%.
Iljin Electric began operating its second transformer plant in Hongseong in Oct. last year and is responding to data center-driven demand for power equipment and the expansion of domestic and overseas orders for ultra-high-voltage transformers. In the wire business as well, improvements in production processes and an increase in global orders translated into higher revenue, Iljin Electric said.
As of the end of the first quarter, the order backlog was $1.76158 billion (about 2.65 trillion won). Of this, the heavy electrical equipment business, including transformers and circuit breakers, accounts for about 70%, and the wire business about 30%. Overseas orders make up about 74% of the backlog.
An Iljin Electric official said, "Continuous growth is expected in the second quarter as well through active order-taking activities."