LG Energy Solution Shares Fall Below IPO Price as Q2 Profit Misses Forecast by 40%

LG Energy Solution shares fell to 313,500 Korean won on July 9, approaching the company's initial public offering price of 300,000 won from January 2022. The decline followed the release of Q2 provisional results on July 7, as the company's operating profit of 113.3 billion won fell 39.83% short of analyst consensus of 188.3 billion won, according to reports.

The shortfall was attributed to delayed recognition of compensation from original equipment manufacturers for battery supply contract breaches and production bottlenecks in ESS (energy storage system) packaging processes that hindered sales. The ESS division, viewed as a hedge against prolonged electric vehicle demand weakness, faced ramp-up costs and assembly bottlenecks that reduced advanced manufacturing production credit benefits in Q2.