OCI Holdings said Wednesday that it returned to profit in the fourth quarter last year, fueled by a recovery in its solar material business in Malaysia and strong housing sales at its real estate unit.
The South Korean chemicals manufacturer posted an operating profit of 27.3 billion won ($18.79 million) for the October-December period, swinging from a loss of 107.8 billion won a year earlier. It marked the company’s first quarterly profit in three quarters.
Revenue came to 810.6 billion won for the fourth quarter, down 5.1 percent on-year, while net profit came to 26.6 billion won, a sharp turnaround from a deficit of 81.99 billion won a year earlier.
The company attributed the rebound to the normalization of operations at its Malaysian unit, OCI TerraSus, which boosted sales of solar-grade polysilicon, as well as robust pre-sales of apartments in Korea at its urban development subsidiary, DCRE.
For the full year, however, OCI Holdings slipped into the red as policy uncertainty and production disruptions weighed on its core solar materials business.
It posted an operating loss of 57.6 billion won in 2025, compared with a profit of 101.5 billion won a year earlier. Revenue dropped 5.5 percent to 3.38 trillion won, while net profit swung to a loss of 144.2 billion won, from 113.7 billion won in 2024.
OCI Holdings cited uncertainties over US trade policies, including reciprocal tariffs and the “One Big Beautiful Bill” legislation, which weighed on earnings.
To mitigate ongoing policy risks, OCI Holdings said it plans to diversify away from Chinese solar suppliers and expand production of “Non-Prohibited Foreign Entity” products -- materials unconnected to restricted foreign entities -- to meet requirements for US customers.
Meanwhile, OCI's real estate unit DCRE reported fourth-quarter revenue of 110 billion won and operating profit of 12 billion won, driven by ongoing construction and sales at its City OCL residential complex in Incheon. It plans to launch additional apartments this year, totaling more than 2,600 units.
OCI Holdings Chair Lee Woo-hyun said the company continued to invest despite business uncertainties last year.
“From Malaysian polysilicon to Vietnamese wafers, we have made strategic investments to establish a 'Non-PFE' solar value chain,” Lee said in a statement. “OCI Holdings plans to continue efforts to enhance shareholder value by focusing on high-growth, high-value-added sectors aligned with the AI era, such as power infrastructure and semiconductor materials.”
sahn@heraldcorp.com
