L&F posts second-quarter operating profit after year-earlier losses

L&F, a maker of cathode active materials for rechargeable batteries, said it posted an operating profit of 20.8 billion won in the second quarter, against an operating loss of 121 billion won a year earlier.

Revenue increased 70.2 percent to 885 billion won from 520 billion won a year earlier, while net income was 52.9 billion won, compared with a net loss of 113 billion won.

In March, L&F signed a 1.61 trillion won contract to supply Samsung SDI with lithium iron phosphate, or LFP, cathode materials.

L&F said its LFP subsidiary, L&F Plus, plans to begin mass production of LFP cathode materials with annual capacity of 30,000 tonnes at the end of the third quarter and build capacity to 60,000 tonnes a year by the first half of 2027. Chief Executive Heo Je-hong said the successful completion of L&F Plus represented more than an expansion of production capacity, calling it a cooperative model for growing with South Korea's battery-materials ecosystem. He said L&F aims to become a trusted partner in global electric-vehicle and energy-storage-system markets through differentiated technology and customer-tailored LFP-material solutions.