SEOUL, Jan. 26 (Yonhap) -- LG Chem Ltd., South Korea's top chemicals firm, said Thursday that its net profit increased 11.5 percent last year from a year earlier on steady demand for its key products, particularly basic materials.
Net profit reached 1.28 trillion won (US$1.1 billion) last year on a consolidated basis compared to a profit of 1.15 trillion won a year earlier, the company said in a regulatory filing.
Operating income also rose 9.2 percent on-year to reach 1.99 trillion won, the highest since 2011, and sales increased 2.2 percent to 20.65 trillion won over the cited period.
LG Chem said its business division for basic materials managed to jack up its profitability due to seasonal factors, while its electric car battery business division suffered a slump.
During the fourth quarter of last year, LG Chem logged a net profit of 270 billion won on sales of 5.51 trillion won.
LG Chem said it aims to log 22.82 trillion won in sales this year, up 10.5 percent from last year.
The company also said it plans to spend 2.76 trillion won this year, sharply up 40 percent from last year.