Hanwha Ocean held its 26th annual meeting at Geoje Ocean Plaza and approved the reappointment of CEO Kim Hee-cheol as an inside director. Kim, who took office in September 2024, will lead the company for another three years.
Kim is credited with driving a turnaround and restructuring after taking the lead on acquiring Philly Shipyard in the United States. The company also said its ability to respond to MASGA, a Korea-U.S. shipbuilding cooperation project, has strengthened.
Hanwha Ocean posted an operating profit of 237.9 billion won in 2024, returning to the black. Last year, it reported operating profit of 1.1676 trillion won, up 391% from a year earlier.
Kim said the company will focus on renewable energy. Hanwha Ocean created an energy plant division and previously signed an engineering, procurement and construction contract for the Sinan Ui offshore wind project. It is also pursuing construction and deployment of a wind turbine installation vessel.
At Hyosung Heavy’s meeting, CEO Woo Tae-hee pointed to expanding demand for power infrastructure and expressed confidence in global growth. With investment rising in data centers and power grids, he said a transformer supply shortage is continuing and related orders are expected to keep increasing.
“We strengthened order competitiveness and customer trust and expanded our presence in global markets,” Woo said. “Uncertainty remains this year, including global economic volatility, but we will further strengthen quality standards and production management capabilities and focus on improving the stability of global production bases and supply-chain operations.”
Shareholders rejected a proposal to amend the company’s articles of incorporation to revise director qualification requirements. A proposal to appoint outside director Park Jong-bae was also scrapped. The industry attributed the outcome in part to the National Pension Service exercising voting rights under its stewardship code.
The report said institutional investors have been more active in exercising shareholder rights as the government emphasizes a “value-up” policy, and the pension fund’s standards have become stricter. The National Pension Service has also voted against director appointments at meetings of Hyosung TNC, Iljin Electric and Lotte Chilsung Beverage.
At Iljin Electric, the National Pension Service opposed the reappointment of CEO Yoo Sang-seok as an inside director and the appointment of outside director Cho Woong-ki, but both proposals passed. Iljin Electric will shift from a co-CEO structure under Hwang Soo and Yoo to a single-CEO system led by Yoo.
LG Display also held its annual meeting and presented plans to upgrade its business structure and improve profitability. CEO Jeong Cheol-dong said the company will “maximize the results of upgrading our business structure and prepare future growth engines through cost innovation and securing technologies with a competitive edge.”
LG Display said it has shifted its business toward organic light-emitting diode displays and posted operating profit of 517 billion won last year, returning to the black for the first time in four years. OLED’s share of sales rose to 61% last year from 32% in 2020, the company said.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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