Woongjin's Information Technology (IT) division recorded a solid performance in the first half of the year, achieving the highest operating profit ever in the second quarter. It is expected to continue its growth in the second half of 2021 by securing new sales channels through the expansion of external IT business and strengthening new businesses.
Woongjin's IT division achieved cumulative sales of 61 billion KRW and operating profit of 4.6 billion KRW in the first half, exceeding the annual operating profit (cumulative) last year. This is the largest profit in the first half since the full-fledged external IT business started in 2008. Woongjin’s operating profit in 2Q reached 3.1 billion KRW, the highest level ever recorded in 2Q.
Woongjin CEO Soo-young Lee said, “This year, we will be able to achieve the highest operating profit and growth rate since we started our external IT business. This is meaningful that have broken away from free from dependence on group affiliates and have clear external competitiveness, as we have attracted external IT customers and our new businesses account for 75%.”
In the meantime, Woongjin has continued to improve its structure. It has pursued real growth as an IT partner suggesting the digitalization of corporate customers and solidifying financial performance improvement, such as the reorganization of loss-making businesses.
After taking office three years ago, CEO Lee especially focused on changing the corporate structure.Woongjin firmly drove business innovation mainly for private companies and new businesses from the existing enterprise resource management (ERP) and public-oriented business structure. It also secured major domestic companies as clients by turning to platform, data management, and digital transformation markets and by expanding its business areas to:△Cloud △Rental Solution △Mobility Solution △Smart Factory and Logistics.
CEO Lee said, “We haverecently identified there isa high demand for introducing platform, logistics, and rental company systems, and in fact, we have won large-scale projects such as LG Group, BMW Korea, and CESCO in a row. For the company we recently won an order, we’ve started the preceding work for digitalization, not for the simple introduction of IT services.”
The increasing demand for digital transformation is expected to have a positive impact on Woongjin's earnings. With the recent relocation of new head office, it has begun preparing for next year's new challenges and innovations.
Woongjin is also conducting strategic business cooperation with Hana Capital to expand the rental platform market. Together with SAP Korea, they announced their cooperation in domestic logistics, ERP market expansion, and talent development. In order to solidify its No.1 position in the medium-sized corporate group market, Woongjin plans to develop its own smart factory solution and expand business cooperation with Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft, Naver, and Kakao.
CEO Lee said, “In the IT market, holding various references leads to corporate performance. Our performance in the first half of this year is the fruit of Woongjin's various experience and trials over the last 20 years. This year, we will be able to achieve more than double the profit compared to last year,” he said.
By Staff Reporter Ji-seon Kim river@etnews.com