Socar Achieves Eight Consecutive Quarters of Profit... Ramping Up Autonomous Driving Data Initiatives in Second Half
Second-Quarter Revenue Reaches KRW 121 Billion, Operating Profit at KRW 6.8 Billion
Operating Profit Up 271% Year-on-Year in Q2
Growth Across Both Car-Sharing and Parking Platforms
Car-Sharing Usage Time Increases by 9.3%
Focus on Autonomous Driving, AI, and Full-Stack Mobility in the Second Half
Mobility platform Socar achieved an operating profit of 6.8 billion won in the second quarter of this year, marking eight consecutive quarters in the black. This was made possible by increasing the adoption of electric vehicles despite high oil price risks originating from the Middle East, as well as the positive effect of introducing new Tesla models equipped with Full Self-Driving (FSD) technology. Socar will begin earnest efforts in the second half of the year to collect data for its new autonomous driving business.
On August 11, Socar announced in a public disclosure that its consolidated revenue and operating profit for the second quarter of this year were provisionally calculated at 121 billion won and 6.8 billion won, respectively. Compared to the same period last year, revenue increased by 23%, while operating profit rose by 271%.
Net profit for the period also reached 6.5 billion won, allowing Socar to return to profitability in the second quarter, typically a slow season. On a separate (excluding subsidiaries) basis, revenue was 115.2 billion won and operating profit was 8.8 billion won.
Socar explained that the strong performance was due to increased new demand driven by investments in user-centered services. Car-sharing usage hours in the second quarter reached 13.21 million hours, up 9.3% year-on-year. Notably, for electric vehicles, average usage time per trip was more than twice as long as that for internal combustion engine vehicles. Corporate customers also increased, with the number of newly registered corporate members during the quarter rising 6.6 times year-on-year and sales to corporate clients up by 17%.
Even amid greater oil price volatility caused by instability in the Middle East, Socar minimized price fluctuations by focusing on electric vehicles, thereby reducing costs for users. Socar maintained its policy of free driving fees for electric vehicles. For internal combustion engine vehicles, driving fees for up to 30km remained free, and subsequent charges were frozen at pre-oil price hike levels.
Premium services, including ‘Black Label’, also delivered strong results. Black Label is Socar’s high-end car-sharing service that delivers fully prepared vehicles—including full cleaning and over 80% charged or refueled—directly to a location of the customer’s choice. Tesla Model S and Model X vehicles, which offer FSD experiences, are also made available through Black Label. In the second quarter, the average revenue per Black Label vehicle was 61% higher than that of standard car-sharing vehicles, while gross profit per vehicle was 103% higher.
The parking platform Modu Parking recorded second-quarter revenue of 3.3 billion won, a 24% increase year-on-year, and quarterly transaction volume exceeded 20 billion won for the first time, setting a record high.
Socar plans to continue its three main strategies in the second half of the year: artificial intelligence (AI), full-stack mobility, and autonomous driving. First, by integrating AI into overall operations, the company aims to reduce overhead costs by 15%, while the incorporation of generative AI search engines is expected to drive expansion of new users, both domestic and foreign. In the full-stack mobility sector, Socar will strengthen its vehicle asset turnover structure connecting car-sharing, subscription, and used car sales. It also plans to launch new services in the second half of the year.
Through its new autonomous driving subsidiary Apex Mobility, Socar will embark on collecting autonomous driving data. In addition to processing the driving data accumulated via Socar to comply with international standards, the company will operate vehicles equipped with full sensor kits as early as this year, gathering data for AI model learning. As of the end of July, Apex Mobility secured 150 billion won in capital, including a paid-in capital increase of 65 billion won by Socar.
Jaewook Park, CEO of Socar and Apex Mobility, stated, "We will transform our business into a profit-generating model through continued operational efficiency, while institutionalizing shareholder return policies to enhance corporate value. In the second half, Socar will strengthen its ‘full-stack mobility’ services, which cover vehicle needs throughout the entire lifecycle, and accelerate preparations for the operation of vehicles equipped with full sensor kits at Apex Mobility, thereby materializing new growth momentum step by step."
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Separately, Socar is also preparing to enact shareholder return policies. The company is currently in the process of stock buybacks with the intention to retire the entire repurchased amount, and is reviewing plans to announce both the total retirement and new measures to enhance corporate value within the second half of the year.
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