The company said in a preliminary regulatory filing on Tuesday that it logged a consolidated operating loss of 207.8 billion won ($138.7 million) for the January to March period, swinging from a 374.7 billion won profit a year earlier and deepening from a 122 billion won loss in the preceding quarter.
Revenue slipped 2.5 percent on-year to 6.555 trillion won, dragged down by sluggish North American EV sales and production halts at Ultium Cells, the company's joint-venture plants with General Motors, whose first two facilities suspended operations in early January. ‘
A shift in accounting treatment compounded the decline.
LG Energy Solution said it began sharing a portion of the Advanced Manufacturing Production Credit proceeds with customers at standalone and formerly joint-venture plants this year, booking only the net figure as other revenue — a change that effectively reduced the recognized subsidy relative to actual production volumes. Rising costs tied to the ramp-up of five North American energy storage system production sites and elevated expenses stemming from the U.S.-Iran conflict also weighed on results.
Industry analysts nonetheless expect the first half to mark the trough. Surging demand for grid-scale and data center-linked ESS batteries, fueled by the global build-out of artificial intelligence infrastructure and power grids, is widely seen as the catalyst for a second-half turnaround.
LG Energy Solution has been channeling resources toward the segment, aiming to more than triple ESS-related revenue and to expand global ESS battery production capacity to over 60 gigawatt-hours by the end of 2026.
"We plan to raise the combined share of ESS and new businesses from about 20 percent today to the mid-40 percent range, building a more stable and balanced portfolio," CEO Kim Dong-myung said at the company's annual shareholders' meeting in late March.
Shares of LG Energy Solution closed at 408,500 won, 0.97 percent lower than the day before.
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