Samsung C&T Corporation (A028260) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Good afternoon. I would like to thank everyone joining the Samsung C&T's Third Quarter for 2026 Conference Call. Good afternoon. We will now begin Samsung C&T's earnings announcement for the third quarter of 2026. Today's speakers will be Vice President, Chanmu Kim, the Head of Global IR and the IR and Finance team; Executive Vice President, Sung Yu Han, the Head of Corporate Management Division; General Manager, Insub Jung, the Head of Management Support Department and the Management Support team; Vice President, Sangwook Ahn, the Head of Business Administration Division; and Vice President, Tangun Lee, the Head of Corporate Management and Support Team. Today's presentation will be delivered in the order of overall business performance in the third quarter of 2026, performance by business group and key business updates followed by Q&A. English interpretation is also provided for this call. This material contains forward-looking statements so please be advised that the company's actual performance may differ depending on changes in future market conditions and business strategy. Now the Head of Global IR, Chanmu Kim will give a presentation on the earnings of the third quarter of 2026 and key business updates.

Good afternoon. Let me start with our corporate-wide results. In the third quarter of 2026, Samsung C&T reported sales of KRW 12.008 trillion and operating profit of KRW 1.143 trillion representing an operating margin of 9.5%. Sales and operating profit increased by KRW 13 billion and KRW 111 billion, respectively, quarter-on-quarter driven by solid construction progress on E&C's High-Tech projects. Compared to the same period last year, sales grew by KRW 1.857 trillion and operating profit by KRW 149 billion extending our solid earnings momentum. We delivered solid results again in the third quarter and while some business groups are expected to see lower earnings in the fourth quarter, we expect full year profitability to improve compared to the previous year. In the third quarter of 2026, we reported a nonoperating loss of KRW 114 billion, a financial loss of KRW 35 billion and equity method gains of KRW 27 billion. Profit before income tax came to KRW 1.021 trillion and net profit was KRW 801 billion. In the third quarter of 2026, E&C reported sales of KRW 4.465 trillion and operating profit of KRW 277 billion. Sales rose quarter-on-quarter driven by robust progress on High-Tech projects such as Pyeongtaek P5 FAB1 and FAB2 and the ramp-up of new building projects, including the Malaysia data center and the Taiwan Kaohsiung mixed-use building project. Operating margin also improved from 5.1% last quarter to 6.2%, putting us back in the 6% range. In the fourth quarter, we expect High-Tech investment to remain strong and construction on newly secured overseas projects to gain momentum, including the groundbreaking of Taylor Fab 2 in the U.S. alongside the ramp-up of the Malaysia data center, the Yongin custom data center and the Qatar Solar project. Accordingly, we expect both sales and operating profit to grow further quarter-on-quarter. New orders in the third quarter totaled KRW 8.827 trillion. This included KRW 2.8 trillion for U.S. Taylor FAB2, KRW 2.1 trillion for Daechi Eunma reconstruction, KRW 1.4 trillion for Jamsil Jugong 5 reconstruction, KRW 0.6 trillion for the Pyeongtaek P5 FAB2 structural frame, KRW 0.4 trillion for Giheung SDR, KRW 0.2 trillion for Pyeongtaek P4 Ph2 and KRW 0.1 trillion for Bangladesh Dhaka Airport. Cumulative new orders through the third quarter of 2026 reached KRW 19.275 trillion bringing our order backlog to KRW 37.746 trillion. Regarding housing construction rights, we secured KRW 2.6 trillion in the third quarter of 2026 including KRW 1.8 trillion for Seongsu 3 redevelopment, KRW 0.5 trillion for Yeouido Mokhwa reconstruction and KRW 0.3 trillion for Makohan Han River Samsung remodeling. That brings our cumulative total for the year to KRW 6.6 trillion against our full year target of approximately KRW 11.7 trillion. In the fourth quarter, as we are pursuing additional orders, including a large scale overseas combined cycle power plant project, we expect to exceed our initial full year target. Consequently, we have raised our annual order guidance from KRW 23.5 trillion to KRW 30.1 trillion. In the third quarter of 2026, T&I recorded sales of KRW 4.2 trillion and operating profit of KRW 99 billion. Earnings declined quarter-on-quarter as favorable conditions in key commodity markets last quarter set a high base along with a decrease in tariff-free steel volumes following the application of EU steel quotas, weaker conditions in chemical and fertilizer markets and the deferral of solar PV disposal gains. We expect the fourth quarter to be affected by weaker year-end demand, but we expect earnings to grow year-on-year for the full year. In the Solar PV development business, part of the disposal gains was deferred to the fourth quarter so cumulative gains for the third quarter of 2026 year-to-date remained at approximately USD 32 million, unchanged from the first half. We expect full year disposal gains to come in somewhat below our initial target of USD 85 million as we decided to transition some of our high quality projects to operations. In the third quarter of 2026, Fashion recorded sales of KRW 498 billion and operating profit of KRW 20 billion. Despite seasonally weak demand and economic uncertainties, both sales and operating profit grew year-on-year supported by strong sales of popular items from our core brands. In the fourth quarter, we expect sales to grow year-on-year as robust demand for F/W items carried over from the late summer heat in the third quarter gained full momentum and as newly launched brands contribute to sales. In the third quarter of 2026, Leisure recorded sales of KRW 181 billion and operating profit of KRW 22 billion. Sales declined year-on-year due to weaker leisure demand amid the heat wave and the completion of a large scale landscape project. Profitability, however, improved year-on-year through operational efficiency. In the fourth quarter, we expect sales to increase year-on-year as the number of large scale landscape construction sites grow. However, short-term profitability is expected to decline due to costs such as park infrastructure renewal. In the third quarter of 2026, F&B recorded sales of KRW 934 billion and operating profit of KRW 63 billion. Earnings grew year-on-year driven by higher meal volumes from newly added sites and higher meal prices. In the fourth quarter, we expect growth to continue on the back of stable food service demand and the full-fledged operation of newly secured sites. We will also strengthen our competitiveness by offering a differentiated customer experience. In the third quarter of 2026, Samsung Biologics reported sales of KRW 1.289 trillion and operating profit of KRW 610 billion representing an operating margin of 47.4%. Sales continued to grow year-on-year on the back of the smooth ramp-up of Plant 5 and production from the Rockville campus in the U.S. Operating profit declined year-on-year due to ramp-up effects among other factors. Samsung Epis Holdings reported sales of KRW 441 billion and operating profit of KRW 52 billion in the third quarter of 2026. Product sales increased led by the U.S. market, but profitability declined year-on-year due to a decrease in milestone payments. With stable operations at its existing plants and contributions from Plant 5 and the Rockville Campus, Samsung Biologics has revised its annual sales growth guidance from the previous range of 15% to 20% to 20%. Epis Holdings expects full year earnings to exceed the previous year driven by expanded sales of biosimilar products in the fourth quarter. Now I would like to go over our key business updates. Despite growing concerns over deteriorating external business environment, we continue to explore opportunities in promising areas. We are steadily securing new growth engines in E&C's SMRs, NPPs and data centers; T&I's renewable power generation and operations; and new Bio businesses. Let me go through each of these. Starting with SMR. In September, together with GE Vernova Hitachi or GVH, we were selected as the partner for a new 1.2 gigawatt SMR project led by Studsvik, the Swedish nuclear company, and we signed a joint development agreement. The project plans to build 4 units of GVH's 300-megawatt BWRX-300. We will participate as a joint EPC partner with GVH collaborating across all stages from early project development to EPC execution. We will participate across the whole EPC scope, including the full scope of SMR construction as well as engineering and procurement for the turbine and balance-of-plant. Also in September, we decided to invest USD 70 million in Kairos Power, a U.S.-based Gen 4 SMR technology provider and signed a strategic business agreement. Through this investment, we aim to differentiate our next-generation SMR engineering and construction capabilities and establish a leading position in the global SMR market. In addition to securing a right of first negotiation on Kairos Power's future commercial SMRs to be built in the U.S., we plan to jointly pursue various SMR opportunities in Korea, Southeast Asia, Europe and beyond. Next, data center. In September, we signed an agreement to invest USD 200 million in Helix Digital Infrastructure, an AI infrastructure company established by U.S.-based KKR. Helix provides end-to-end AI infrastructure solutions, including hyperscale data center development and operation, power generation, transmission and distribution and network infrastructure. Leveraging our EPC capabilities, we plan to actively pursue large scale infrastructure projects in data center construction and power generation. We will first pursue participation in modular data center EPC and we will also consider expanding our participation across the entire data center value chain, including project development and operations and maintenance. By building relationships with Helix's major partners, we have laid the groundwork to expand our business into the U.S. energy market. Lastly, let me briefly go over our financial structure. At the end of the third quarter of 2026, total assets stood at KRW 140.723 trillion and total equity at KRW 96.491 trillion, both down from the end of the previous quarter. Total debt decreased to KRW 2.777 trillion. As a result, the debt-to-equity ratio rose by 2 percentage points from 44% at the end of the second quarter to 46%. We maintained a stable financial structure with a current ratio of 149% and a borrowing dependency ratio of 2.0%. This concludes the earnings announcement and we will now take questions.

[Interpreted] [Operator Instructions] Currently, there are no participants with questions. [Operator Instructions] The first question will be provided by Byung Hwa Han from Eugene Investment & Securities.

[Interpreted] I have 2 questions. The first question is about the GVH project in Sweden. You've said that you've been selected as a partner. I'm just wondering about some details about it. It's only marked here as construction planned or scheduled. Can you give us a bit more detail about the structure? For example is there a buyer for that power already signed on through a PPA for that capacity and is that how you are expecting there to be commercial operation starting from 2035? So I would appreciate if you could just take us through some of the key milestones of the Sweden GVH project. Second question is about the data center project that you were talking about that you are thinking of doing with Helix. With that Helix data center project in terms of our Samsung C&T revenue, how much would that be in terms of gigawatts?

[Interpreted] To answer your first question about the Swedish SMR project with Studsvik. I can first share the key time lines. We have been selected as the preferred bidder. We are scheduling FEED Phase 1 in 2027 followed by FEED 2 in '28. Then there will be this feasibility study and we're scheduling EPC contract signing in 2029, construction of the first unit starting in '30, completion of that first unit to be in '35 and of course it will be followed by completion of other subsequent units. Because the detailed feasibility of the project has not yet been determined, we are not currently able to share detailed contract sizes or revenue. To answer your second question about the Helix data center project. Regarding that project, we're not at this point able to share detailed revenue size. But I think I can give you a bit more background and what we expect to benefit from through that project. As you know, we are focused on becoming a major data center EPC player in the U.S. Our plan is to complete our modular data center capabilities by '27 and to expand that in the U.S. That's why we want to participate as an EPC company in that large scale data center project to be pursued by Helix in Texas construction expected from '28. Also, the Helix project is an important stepping stone for us to break into the mainstream energy market in the U.S. Vistra is the #2 IPP in the U.S. and also a major partner in Helix. And through this network connection with Vistra, we will be able to get a good position into constructing energy projects in the U.S. And so the Helix project has an important meaning in expanding our EPC position in key AI related sectors, i.e., the data center and power infrastructure.

[Interpreted] The following question will be presented by Soo-hyun Kim from DS Investment & Securities.

[Interpreted] I have 2 questions. First question is about the High-Tech. I'm wondering what was the share of High-Tech in your Q3 revenue? Also regarding the P5, it appears that for Fab 1 and Fab 2 of P5 are undergoing at the same time. When do you think would be the peak of P5 that is when do you think that will be the transition from structural framework to finishing? Another question is do you expect your High-Tech revenue to be larger next year than this year or do you think this year '26 was the peak? Second question is about your order guidance. You've just upgraded, you've increased your full year order guidance. Back calculating that means that you would need to have around KRW 10 trillion of new orders in Q4 to meet that. Can you break down that KRW 10 trillion between different sectors of your E&C, for example High-Tech versus residential and others?

[Interpreted] To answer your first question. High-Tech accounted for roughly 50% of our revenue and we expect that share to increase as we go forward. To answer your second part of your first question. Our outlook for our High-Tech business in 2027 next year is that orders will continue to remain strong given the continued investment of semiconductors as well as advanced packaging by our customers and the new facility investment in Vietnam by Samsung Electromechanics. So we expect order growth to remain strong next year. We're also expecting a good year in terms of revenue given that the Pyeongtaek projects as well as the Taylor project, construction will make significant progress next year contributing to revenue. So actually we are expecting significant upside to our revenue next year compared to 2026. About your second question. Our full year guidance on our order size; yes, we are expecting -- we have calculated a pipeline size of KRW 10 trillion for Q4 across different lines of our business. We are actually on track to overachieve our full year guidance. To give you a bit more detail, pipeline breakdown by line in terms of construction. The winning bidder for the Southwest Asia Middle East new airport project is to be announced in Q4. We are waiting for that announcement. Also the STS Gumi data center project, which was signed in Q3 is expected to increase our contract value. So that will also contribute. So we're expecting from that product line about KRW 1 trillion of orders. For civil engineering, we are in the final stages of talks about the Southeast Asian bridge project. We are expecting to sign that in November. So including that in Q4, we're expecting about KRW 0.5 trillion or KRW 500 billion in pipeline. On the plant side, there are the major gas-fired power plants in Australia. There's also the combined cycle project in Taiwan. So there are these major power projects in the pipeline. Also, there is a battery ESS project in the Middle East that we're waiting for results to be announced. So combining all of that on the plant side, we are focusing on winning orders of around KRW 4 trillion. On the residential side, we're expecting around stable KRW 3 trillion of orders in Q4, including the Yeouido Sibeom Apartment as well as the Pyeongtaek projects that are moving through the approval process. And in Q4, Hi-Tech will continue to contribute as a source of stable growth and a core engine, including the Pyeongtaek P5 projects.

[Interpreted] The following question will be presented by Heewon Choi from Morgan Stanley.

[Interpreted] I have a question about shareholder return and a possible value-up plan from C&T. Not only C&T, but also other Samsung affiliates. Are we receiving inquiries regarding their value-up plans or any updates to it given that the AGM season is approaching early next year. So I'm just wondering is there anything in addition that you are currently considering in terms of shareholder return other than what you have announced? And if you do provide updates, when do you think you'll be able to announce an updated shareholder return plan?

[Interpreted] As you know, earlier this year, we announced a 3-year shareholder return plan covering years 2026 through '28. Key features of that plan is that we plan to redistribute 60% to 70% of dividends that we receive from affiliates, but that the specific amount of dividend per share will be determined by our BOD resolution considering multiple factors, including our own business performance, cash flow and changes to tax regulations. So for example, any special dividends paid out by Samsung Electronics for Q3 will also be redistributed according to that already announced shareholder return plan. You've also asked about a value-up plan. We are continuing to study it. We have not yet decided the details or when we will be able to unveil our value-up plan, but we do promise to share it with the market once details have been finalized.