POSCO Holdings Inc. (NYSE:PKX) Q2 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

And as for the non-traditional lithium, we do see high share in North America. So the plan is to work with the mining companies to carry out projects. Now, you talked about EBITDA, for brine, of course it’s high. It’s only natural. Because the lithium processing from the mine, it’s just one single process. So mining and brine, they go hand in hand, which is why EBITDA is high. And for ore, that takes second place of EBITDA. So you have profit from mining and also you have profit from ore, and you have to split the two, which is why for ore EBITDA is lower. And for brine, well, we haven’t kick started the project. However, the project margin rate, EBITDA is about 60% and over. And that includes processing as well as mining. So if you look at the margin then brine is the highest then ore and then non-traditional lithium.

So that would be the order. Thank you very much.

Jeong Dae-Hyung : Yes. Thank you. So you talked about the possible adjustment of shares. And after we kick start the launch of the surviving company, we have been working on the stock governance. But then given the share price change and also the funding and the ownership, well, you talked about that. But anyways, from that perspective, we do not have any plans to adjust the shares.

Yi Hyun-soo: So that would be all for me. Thank you.

Jeong Ki-Seop: Thank you. Next question please.

Operator: Next question will be from HI Investment Securities, Kim Hoon-Sang. Please go ahead.

Kim Sang-hoon: I have a few questions. So in the beginning of this month, you said that, you are going to invest about KRW 121 trillion by 2030. So you actually unveiled your investment plan. So I know that you haven’t executed all your investments. So I would like to know how much of that you have invested, and can you also provide us with the breakdown of your investment? So the second is regarding the lithium sales. So when it comes to production, you actually mentioned about it, but — and you also elaborated on how you are going to produce lithium. So you said that by 2023, it will be about 160,000 tons. So I would like to know if you have any like mid-term like milestones? And can you elaborate more on that as well? And third is regarding the energy sources, especially in terms of renewables as well as offshore projects, what are their share in our overall revenue?

And how much of these projects and businesses are ongoing? And how are they being accelerated? And what can we expect in terms of revenue from these businesses? Thank you.

Jeong Ki-Seop: Regarding the first question, regarding CapEx, so that will be Jeong Dae-Hyung, Head of Corporate Strategy team, who is going to answer and ask for the lithium sales and production that will be, of course, by Mr. Lee Kyung-seop of the lithium battery materials business. And the third question will be answered, so regarding the offshore project will be by [Han Dong Ng], the Group Leader of marketing strategy office.

Jeong Dae-Hyung: I am Jeong Dae-Hyung from Corporate Strategy team of Holdings. You mentioned about the breakdown of KRW 121 trillion of CapEx. So that can be divided into three. So there is the steel, the secondary materials and green infrastructure. And for each segment, by 2030, if you look at the volume of CapEx, so steel will represent about 35%, secondary materials 46% and green infrastructure 15%. So that will be the breakdown of our CapEx. And if you break further down the steel, in order for green steel that will be 20% and for the growth investment 30% and recurring or operational investment will be the rest. And when it comes to the secondary material, battery materials, so basically the anode, the cathodes and the lithium, so we’ll get the investments on an equal basis. So that will be about 70% or more of the entire secondary materials CapEx. Thank you.