SK Innovation’s Operating Profit Surges to 3.7 Trillion Won, but Shares Fall 6.44%
Key Facts
SK Innovation said preliminary operating profit reached 3.7 trillion won in the third quarter of 2026, up 532.5% year over year, as it returned to net profit after posting a loss a year earlier. Still, the stock fell to 130,800 won during trading on October 29, down 6.44% from the previous day, according to Aju Press. The results were mixed: strong annual growth in profit and revenue was offset by a quarterly decline in revenue. Net profit was 2.64 trillion won, compared with a loss of 94.3 billion won in the third quarter of 2025. The report did not link the share-price decline to a specific cause, while highlighting mixed performance across the company’s operating units.
Revenue was 28.77 trillion won, up 39.7% from the same period a year earlier but down 1.3% from the second quarter of 2026. Operating profit rose 6.2% quarter over quarter, according to Aju Press, combining improved profitability with lower revenue than in the previous quarter. The divergence highlights how annual and quarterly comparisons present different readings of the results: annual figures showed growth in revenue and operating profit, while revenue contracted from the second quarter. The return to net profit was measured against a loss in the year-earlier period, not against the level of net profit in the previous quarter. The company listed its third-quarter 2026 results on its official earnings releases page.
The company attributed the quarter-over-quarter improvement in operating profit to lower refinery operating rates in the Middle East and Russia’s restrictions on diesel exports. It said the two factors tightened global fuel supplies and raised export margins, supporting refining operations. This was reflected in SK Energy, whose operating profit rose by 554.6 billion won from the second quarter to 1.21 trillion won in the third quarter. SK Enmove, the lubricants unit, posted a record quarterly profit of 1.09 trillion won. The report attributed this performance to persistently high base-oil margins, making refining and lubricants among the period’s leading sources of profit.
By contrast, battery unit SK On posted an operating loss of 80.5 billion won in the third quarter as sales declined. That followed one-time gains that had lifted the unit to a profit in the second quarter, meaning the quarterly comparison was affected by the end of those gains and weaker sales. Battery operations therefore did not share in the improvement in profitability seen at the refining and lubricants units. The results show a divergence within the group between profits supported by fuel-market conditions and base-oil margins, and a battery unit that returned to an operating loss. The report did not provide a figure for SK On’s contribution to group revenue.
For the fourth quarter, the company expects refining conditions to remain strong, supported by maintenance shutdowns, export restrictions in major producing countries and winter demand. It said these factors are likely to continue supporting the refining environment in the coming period, without specifying a forecast figure. At the same time, base-oil margins could gradually decline if global supply disruptions ease, according to the outlook cited in the report. This leaves refining and lubricants operations facing different factors: continued support from the fuel market on one hand, and the possibility that some pressures that kept base-oil margins high will recede on the other. The company did not provide a quantitative estimate in the report of these factors’ impact on fourth-quarter profit.