SEOUL, Jan. 23 (Yonhap) -- Samsung SDI Co., a South Korean manufacturer of electric vehicle and smartphone batteries, said Tuesday its net profit skyrocketed in the fourth quarter from a year earlier on robust battery sales.
For the three months that ended Dec. 31, net profit soared to 237.57 billion won (US$221 million) from a mere 7.7 billion won a year earlier, the company said in a statement.
"The stellar performance was driven by increased shipments of car batteries to Europe and increased sales of energy storage systems (ESS) to power-generating companies and commercial buildings," a company spokesman said.
Samsung SDI posted an operating profit of 118.6 billion won in the fourth quarter, shifting from an operating loss of 58.02 billion won a year ago. Sales rose 42 percent on-year to 1.854 trillion won from 1.303 trillion won.
For the whole of 2017, net profit more than tripled to 643.19 billion won from 211.11 billion won in the previous year, which was also helped by rising demand for car batteries.
The company swung to an operating profit of 116.9 billion won last year from an operating loss of 926.33 billion won a year earlier. Sales rose 22 percent to 6.322 trillion won from 5.201 trillion won.
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