Korea Zinc(010130) saw improved results in the second quarter of this year on the back of expanded sales of precious metals such as gold and silver and rare metals. Operating profit jumped sharply from a year earlier, but results worsened from the previous quarter due to a drop in precious metal prices.
Korea Zinc said in a filing on the 5th that its second-quarter operating profit on a consolidation basis came to 587.1 billion won, a provisional figure up 126% from the same period last year. However, it fell 21% from the previous quarter's operating profit of 746 billion won. Operating profit also came in slightly below the securities market consensus of 594.8 billion won compiled by FnGuide.
Second-quarter revenue this year was 6.3726 trillion won, up 66% from 3.8253 trillion won a year earlier. Net profit was 351.5 billion won, up 6.6% from 329.7 billion won a year earlier.
Year-over-year improvement was driven by expanded sales of precious metals. Second-quarter gold sales this year were 1.225 trillion won, up 58% from 773 billion won a year earlier. Silver sales also tripled over the same period from 1.519 trillion won to 4.108 trillion won. Zinc and copper sales increased as well. Zinc and copper sales rose 22.6% and 9.5%, respectively, over the same period.
Sales of rare metals also expanded. Second-quarter indium sales this year were 30 billion won, up 11.1% from a year earlier. Indium is a silvery metal regarded as a key material for quantum computers.
Bismuth sales were 40 billion won, up 81.8% from a year earlier. Bismuth is a byproduct material produced when making lead and zinc and is used in advanced industries such as power semiconductor manufacturing.
The deterioration from the previous quarter was attributed to falling precious metal prices.
Gold and silver prices rose year over year in the second quarter of this year but fell from the previous quarter. According to the New York Mercantile Exchange, on the 4th the settlement price for gold futures was $4,152 per ounce, up 20.9% from $3,435 per ounce in the same period last year. In contrast, it was down 25% from the first quarter's peak of $5,586 per ounce this year.