ICIS Chemical Business Names LG Chem the ICIS Company of the Year

NEW YORK and LONDON, September 27, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- ICIS Chemical Business magazine is pleased to announce that South Korea-based LG Chem has been named the ICIS Company of the Year.

"Congratulations to LG Chem for an outstanding financial performance in 2009 - a difficult year in which most companies struggled with the impact of the global economic crisis," said Joseph Chang, Global Editor of ICIS Chemical Business. "We commend CEO Peter Bahnsuk Kim and his team for their superb efforts."

In 2009, LG Chem registered an 8% increase in group sales in local currency, a 45% increase in operating profits and a 51% jump in net income for the year at a time when so many other firms experienced the worst of the slump, noted ICIS Insight Editor Nigel Davis.

LG Chem attributed the results to outstanding individual business performance, as well as favorable external market factors - the weak Korean currency, the impact on petrochemicals of more stable oil prices and China's economic stimulus packages.

"This award marks a symbolic achievement for LG Chem. LG Chem's significant outperformance results from its tireless efforts to create innovation and introduce a new culture of change to the organization, while improving global competitiveness as well," said LG Chem CEO and vice chairman Peter Bahnsuk Kim.

He added that LG Chem's "success DNA" will help its business grow further as a leading global company, focusing not only on the petrochemical and information and electronic materials businesses, but also on new businesses such as advanced batteries for electric vehicles.

Based on the analysis of the ICIS Top 100 Chemical Companies, a global ranking based in US dollars, sponsored by leading logistics and supply chain company Damco, LG Chem ranked #22 with $11.8bn in sales and $1.67bn in operating profit in 2009 - up from #35 in the rankings a year ago.

The petrochemicals unit saw sales fall by 4.3%, but pushed operating profits 61.5% higher. Information and electronic materials sales accounted for 31% of the consolidated group total for the year and were up by 55.4% on 2008. The division's operating profit was up by 10.4%.

"LG Chem's most visible growth engine is its automotive battery business," said Davis.

The company has an exclusive contract with US automaker General Motors to supply batteries for the Chevy Volt, and has pursued similar contracts in China and South Korea.

LG Chem subsidiary, Compact Power, began building a $300m lithium ion battery plant in Holland, Michigan, US, in July. US President Barack Obama attended the groundbreaking ceremony.

See the ICIS Company of the Year article in ICIS Chemical Business at http://tinyurl.com/ICISCompanyOfTheYear2010 .

The ICIS Top 100 Chemical Companies table was compiled by Lara McNamee and the ICIS data & analytics team led by Paul Ray.

A PDF of the ICIS Top 100 Chemical Companies is available for download at http://www.icis.com/Top100

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Damco

As part of the A.P. Moller-Maersk Group, Damco offers a broad range of supply chain management and freight forwarding services to customers all over the world, and has 10,500 employees in over 280 owned offices across 90 countries with representation in 120 countries in Africa, Asia, Australia, North America, Europe, Middle East, and Latin America.

    http://www.damco.com

    For media inquiries, contact:

    Joseph Chang
    Global Editor
    ICIS Chemical Business
    T: +1-212-791-4224
    [email protected]

    http://www.icis.com/magazine
    http://www.icis.com

    Nigel Davis
    ICIS Insight Editor
    T: +44-20-8652-3397
    [email protected]

    Anthony Elwine
    Industry Head - Chemicals
    Middle East Region
    Damco
    Dubai, United Arab Emirates
    T: +971-4-5086-207
    [email protected]

    http://www.damco.com

SOURCE ICIS Chemical Business