POSCO Breaks Q1 Record

Hits 6.066 tln won in sales and breaks ground for global R&D center in Incheon

POSCO's Q1 sales reached 6.066 trillion won, with operating income of 1.274 trillion won and net income of 1.031 trillion won, achieving excellent management results during the quarter. The sales revenue for Q1 is the highest ever for a single quarter, the steelmaker said at its investor relations meeting on April 18.
The steelmaker held the Q1 investor relations session to present the management results, and had a Q&A session for the attendees at the Korea Exchange in Yeouido, Seoul, on April 11.
The reasons for the excellent performance results in the first quarter were the expansion of strategic product sales, a recovery in steel prices, and the stabilization of nickel prices this year, the company said.
Nickel is a key raw material for stainless steel, and the stainless steel sector surpassed the break-even point from March this year. Moreover, with the third blast furnace at the Pohang Steel Works rewriting the world record for discharge rate,the significant contribution to the results was attributable to overall productivity improvement and
cost reduction activities.
The revenue, operating income and net income during the first quarter increased 6.4 percent, 14.5 percent and 5 percent, respectively, compared to the same period last year. The consolidated revenue of 8.477 trillion won and operating income of 1.502 trillion won were an increase of 9.5 percent and 12.8 percent, respectively, compared to Q1 of last year. The favorable consolidated management results can be attributable to the rise of sales in the steel sector, the inclusion of new companies such as overseas processing centers, and the increase in assets due to the increased investment.
With the sales expansion in strategic products such as auto steel sheets, high-performance cold-rolled products, TMCP, etc., POSCO broke the 6 trillion won record in terms of revenue in a single quarter for the first time. With an increased proportion of sales coming from the higher value-added products, net income exceeded the 1 trillion won mark for the first time since Q2 of 2007.
POSCO has adjusted this year's revenue goal to 28 trillion won from which an operating income of 4.8 trillion won is projected.
In the meantime, the steelmaker broke ground for its global R&D center in the Songdo Free Economic Zone on April 23. Chairman & CEO Lee Ku-taek attended the ceremony along with Mayor of Incheon Ahn Sang-soo, Administrator of the Incheon Free Economic Zone Authority Lee Hon-sok and President Han Soo-yang of POSCO Engineering and Construction Co., among the 200 participants.
Chairman Lee said in his speech that POSCO will use the global R&D center to turn itself into a global enterprise with strong technological competitiveness in the future.
The global R&D center is being built on an 82,560 square-meters site with a total building space of 98,564 square meters to house a lab for research and experiments, a multipurpose hall and a dormitory. The facility is projected to be completed in June 2010 and will be manned by some 530 research staff from POSCO Research Lab as well as investors in the new facility such as POSTECH, and RIST, most of them with advanced degrees in science and technology.
The research center will focus on eight areas of science and technology including steel alloy, intelligent automation, ubiquitous technology, non-metal materials, environmental technology and new and recycled energy, nanotechnology, and bio high-tech fusion.
POSCO's objective behind setting up and operating the center is to provide support to its customer firms clustered in the capital area in the use of steel products and to build a cooperative network with university labs and the center to upgrade the research on steel production technologies. nw

Chairman & CEO Lee Ku-taek of POSCO is being awarded with Order of Rio Branco from Brazilian Ambassador to Korea Celina Assumpacao de Valle Pereira May 13 at the Brazilian Embassy in Seoul in recognition of the POSCO chairman's contribution to the Korea-Brazil relations.
Executives of POSCO led by Chairman Lee Ku-taek, 3rd R, breaks ground for POSCO's Global R&D Center in Incheon April 23.