LG Energy Solution Ltd

KRX:373220

Q1-2025 Earnings Call

[Sara Hwang, executive]

[Interpreted] Good morning, and good evening. This is Sara Hwang, head of IR from LG Energy Solution. Thank you for joining our Q1 2025 earnings conference call.

First, I'd like to introduce who are present today. Lee Chang Sil, CFO; [indiscernible] in charge of Finance and Accounting Group; [indiscernible] in charge of Finance; [indiscernible] in charge of Planning and Management; and [indiscernible] in charge of Advanced Automotive Battery Planning Management; [indiscernible] in charge of Mobility and IT Battery Planning Management; Kim Minsu, in charge of [indiscernible] Planning Management; and [indiscernible] in charge of Corporate Strategy.

For your reference, the presentation for our business performance and strategy will be conducted with simultaneous interpretation, after which we will have Q&A with consecutive interpretation. The PT slide will be webcast live, and you can download from the corporate website.

In this conference call, I'm going to share our 2025 first quarter result and the CFO will share key initiatives -- key achievement, rather, and recent market trends and our action plan followed by Q&A session.

Please note that the forward-looking statements included in the call are subject to change according to amendments in future business environment and corporate strategies.

First, let me talk about our business performance. In the first quarter, we performed better than previously expected. Regarding revenue, even with the slight ASP increase from the strong dollar and product mix due to the decline in shipment volume, the revenue recorded KRW 6.3 trillion, down by 3% Q-o-Q.

In the Auto Battery business, the shipments in North America remained relatively solid with our proactive response based on the preemptively secure local capacity. In Europe, however, battery shipment decreased as OEMs prioritized selling EVs using their inventory, resulting in a decline in revenue Q-o-Q.

In the small battery business, demand for cylindrical products for EVs was continuously strong due to the newly launched EV models by the strategic customer, leading to an increase in revenue Q-o-Q. On the other hand, ESS battery business showed a decrease in revenue due to the low seasonality of demand in power grids.

In terms of profitability, with lowered raw material costs, we achieved cost reduction as shown in material cost ratio improvement through cost innovation efforts as the one-off reflected in the previous quarter was eliminated and KRW 457.7 billion in tax credit was reflected due to the increase in sales in North America.

OP profit KRW 74.7 billion, leading to OP margin of 6%, up by 9.5 percentage points Q-on-Q and EBITDA margin of 20%. Excluding the North American tax credit, the operating loss was KRW 83 billion, showing 6% improvement Q-o-Q.

As a reminder, nonoperating item, as around KRW 110 billion of net interest expense was offset by translation gains on foreign currency denominated borrowings and derivative evaluation. The nonoperating loss amounted to KRW 10 billion. With net profit before tax recording KRW 365 billion, the net profit margin to KRW 227 billion.

Next, financial position. The asset at the end of the first quarter increased by KRW 2 trillion compared to the previous year-end to stand at KRW 62.3 trillion due to acquisition of tangible assets with CapEx execution. Liabilities increased by KRW 1.7 trillion to reach KRW 31 trillion compared to the previous year-end due to the issuance of Korean won denominated corporate bonds and equity increased by KRW 0.3 trillion, totaling KRW 31.3 trillion.

The liability to equity ratio recorded 99% with a debt-to-equity ratio of 56% and a net debt-to-equity ratio of 45%. Regarding cash flow during the quarter, even with the EBITDA generation of KRW 1.2 trillion and borrowing through the issuance of KRW 1.6 trillion denominated corporate bond and negative cash flow occurred during the CapEx execution of KRW 3 trillion, primarily for North American JV capacities. As a result, the cash balance decreased by KRW 0.3 trillion compared to the year-end of last year to reach KRW 3.6 trillion.

Let me end my explanation, and we will move on to the next part.

[Chang Sil Lee, executive]

[Interpreted] Good morning and evening. This is CFO, Lee Chang Sil here. First, let me explain the first quarter results. At LG Energy Solution, we are putting our heads together for various solutions towards the final growth, even amidst unprecedented market volatility and uncertainty. And through prioritization and focus, we are ensuring that financial soundness comes first.

We are maximizing the utilization of our existing capacity and immediately have prioritized minimizing CapEx execution. In particular, to reallocate our North American production sites where capacity expansion has been concentrated in recent years, we have immediately decided to hold the ESS capacity expansion in Arizona and use the stand-alone capacity in Michigan instead.

Considering the slowdown in demand recovery in the short term, we plan to acquire the third JV with GM, which has been built at the Lansing site to meet the demand for EVs, originally intended for the Michigan stand-alone plant. The final deal for the acquisition is to be closed in May.

Through this, we will be able to reduce new CapEx in Arizona pull ahead, production time line of ESS product by 1 year compared to the previous plan and also minimize the downtime at the Lansing site, thereby maximizing the utilization of the already invested assets. Meanwhile, we are cautiously maintaining momentum for the new project orders based on our differentiated product technology.

For EV batteries, we have recently signed a new contract for supplying 10 gigawatt hour of 46 series per year to the customers in North America, securing a total of 4 customers, the new form factor. We plan to further expand our sales from the cylindrical battery customers through additional discussion.

For ESS, we have established a strategic partnership with a global energy management company, Delta Electronics, to start supplying residential ESS from this year based on local products and capacity in the U.S. Furthermore, we'll continue the strategic partnership further in the grid and commercial applications. In Europe also, we have won a large-scale grid project led by a state-owned energy company in Poland and plan to produce supply LFP ESS produced at our Poland site starting in 2026.

With this, our local production capacity for ESS will be ready, not just in Asia and the U.S., but also in Europe. And as active discussion for orders are ongoing globally, we'll be able to deliver news of our new orders pretty soon.

Additionally, we are actively pursuing diversification of our business portfolio. In January, we achieved a milestone by signing on exclusive contract to supply 4.4 gigawatt hour of cylindrical batteries over 7 years to Aptera Motors, a U.S. solar EV startup. Recently, we established a battery recycling JV with France #1 metal recycler to proactively address better recycling regulation in Europe and rapidly secured a recycled metal supply chain.

Furthermore, we have been recognized for our accumulated capacity in energy business operations and have been selected as a bidding operator for Korea's largest offshore wind farm. Thus we'll be able to and currently we are successfully spending our ESS business. Nevertheless, we think many people are probably keen on the various external policy changes and their impact on the battery industry.

In spite of the possibility of the additional changes continuing, with the dramatic changes in tariff policies in the U.S., a common tariff of 10% has been applied to all U.S. imported goods since April 5 and a higher tariff of 25% on automobile with the same to be imposed on auto parts starting May 3. Additionally, reciprocal tariff, which vary by country, 25% for Korea, 20% for the U.S. and et cetera, are set to be applied after a 90-day grace period starting July 9, and trade negotiations are currently ongoing with each country.

Particularly for Chinese products starting April 9, reciprocal tariff on ESS product and certain battery materials have increased to 125%. As a result, Chinese made ESS batteries face tariff of around 156% and materials over 170%, indicating the U.S. measures are getting more stringent against China. These changes in tariff policies are expected to have comprehensive impact on the overall auto industry, leading to a projected decrease of over 10% in the U.S. EV demand this year compared to the previous forecast.

Rather the trend of decoupling from China in battery and in supply chain as well as Chinese ESS batteries, which have accounted for about 85% of the U.S. market so far is expected to intensify further. Therefore, we think the capability of local production is going to emerge as an absolute competitive edge.

Meanwhile, in Europe, CO2 emissions regulations announced in early May, early March rather, will remain at the strengthened standard of over 20% from this year. In response to OEM's request for regulatory flexibility, the penalty system has been somewhat relaxed. Instead of imposing fines annually, penalties will be based on the average emissions over the 3-year period from 2025 to 2027.

Still, the goal is to ban ICE sales by 2035 remains unchanged, indicating that the long-term direction towards carbon neutrality is expected to stay consistent. In the short term, though the pace of EV expansion is likely to be slower than initially anticipated. Although detailed requirements have not been specified, Europe has announced plans to prepare local production support measures to strengthen the battery supply chain with spreading protection is in the local pricing capabilities across the entire supply chain have become more crucial than ever.

Due to the drastic changes in policy, it is true that accurate demand forecasting has become challenging. However, we are committed to finding the right answers within the given and executing them. First, will identify our investment priorities and execute only for indispensable items. For ongoing project, we're adjusting the scale and speed of expansion promptly and proactively through objective judgment and close collaboration with our customers.

Also, while we tightly manage EV battery inventory with the high downside risk in demand, we aim to accelerate revenue growth for ESS with relatively more solid growth potential by pulling ahead the establishment of production lines in the U.S. and converting capacity in Europe.

Next, based on our global operational capabilities and diversified product portfolio, we'll actively discover strategic business opportunities to continuously secure future growth drivers. Leveraging the local production sites, preemptively secured in each region ahead of competitors, we are promptly responding to customers' needs for intraregional battery supply. In particular, in North America, we will commence early mass production of ESS in Michigan starting in the second quarter. And based on this, we will continue to expand local large-scale, long-term order intake.

Additionally, with the massive production of 46-series in Arizona, we aim to secure future order momentum for EV based on new products. From an application perspective, with the development of high-power cells suitable for human-like robots and drones, which are expected to have long-term growth potential, we are currently in the process of discussing sample supply.

Lastly, to minimize the burden of rising raw material prices due to U.S. tariffs, we would like to speed up securing the local value chain by collaborating with material companies planning to enter North America, we plan to secure optimized raw material supply chains in each region by establishing a comprehensive sourcing system. With this, we will also continue to smoothly implement the development of dry electrode technology, which can innovatively reduce production costs.

Our investors, analysts and shareholders, in times of change like this, we think cautious and flexible responses will prove their real worth. While fluctuation due to environmental changes will continue for the time being, we will do our utmost to turn the current uncertainty into an opportunity for growth. Please pay attention to our growth, and thank you for your support.

This is the end of the presentation. Let me move on to the Q&A session. For us to give more chances, let me limit the number of questions to 2.

[Operator]

[Foreign Language] [Operator Instructions] The first question will be provided by Hyun-Soo Kim from Hana Securities.

[Hyun-So Kim, analyst]

[Interpreted] There are 2 questions that I would like to ask you. One is about your outlook for your performance going forward and second is related to your investment plan. Firstly, with regards to the outlook going forward, I do believe that you have discussed the industry trends that you see and also your strategy for the future. However, if we look at the second quarter performance and also the full performance for the year, what would the trends for the situation going forward? In addition to that, for the actual improvement in your performance, when do you think that, that will take place?

The second question that I would like to ask you is about your CapEx. I do believe the CFO had discussed that the external environment is changing very rapidly. And I do believe that, that represents a very large uncertainty related to demand going forward. However, for your CapEx, do you have any plans to cut back on your CapEx further? Or in the U.S. specifically, would there be any additional changes that we could expect on the CapEx there?

[Chang Sil Lee, executive]

[Interpreted] So maybe I can address the 2 questions that you have asked This the CFO, Lee Chang Sil, and I do think that the questions that you have asked are very important questions and also questions that the market is most interested in. So starting with the quick first question, which was the outlook for the second quarter and also the full year performance. And also in terms of when we actually believe our overall performance would be able to improve. I would have to start by saying that as of the current time, forecasting for the future is extremely challenging.

However, that have been said, for the second quarter specifically, we do think that the strong trends that we have seen in sales for our key U.S. customers will continue. And also the impact from the new models that have been launched by our cylindrical customers will have an impact on our overall revenue. However, as of the current situation, as of now, of course, the tariff-related situation is very volatile. So we do think that for this reason, at the OEM level for their inventory management that they will continue to take a very conservative stand.

So on a quarter-on-quarter basis, taking everything into consideration, we do think that a certain level of a decline in our top line will be inevitable. To look at profitability in terms of the overall production volume and production going forward, there will be some burden that we will have for our fixed cost. However, through a continuous and very diligent efforts to try to cut back on our costs. We will be focusing on our revenue, driven by high-margin projects.

And added to that, based upon the production capabilities that we have in the U.S., we will try to utilize the opportunities that we see that represent very high potential in the ESS market to be able to improve our profitability going forward. To talk about the full year outlook for 2025 based upon the U.S. market, as the policy continues to change, we do think that there will continue to be a lot of changes that take place in the external environment. So as a result of that, forecasting the downstream industry and the demand is very challenging as of the current time.

If we look at the regions outside of the U.S. for vehicle production, for example, in the case of OEMs that are producing outside of the U.S. and taking their cars into the U.S., we do think that there will be a very close review of what their production strategies will be going forward. So in short, we do think that for the key OEMs that there will continue be very conservative inventory management. And as the policy continues to change, we do think that there could be further changes in the demand, which we will closely continue to monitor.

But starting from the second quarter for the ESS capacity that we have in North America, we will be only ramping up the production there to be able to start mass production as soon as possible. And then for EV new chemistry batteries that are going to Europe, we will be starting mass production in this area also. So we do think that these factors will drive our growth in the business and also continue to drive the top line. So based upon that, we will try to be selective and more focused and try to deal with the situation going forward accordingly.

So to move on to the second question that you asked about our overall capacity or CapEx plans and how we are going to deal with the changes that we see in the demand. As we mentioned during the conference call in January, I think that for the full year CapEx, the guidance that we had provided, is that on a Y-o-Y basis, we would cut back around 20% to 30%. And of course, we do want to be flexible for the current situation. If you look at the recent developments internally and externally, there are a lot of different elements that are still moving.

So for the time being, we do think that there would be a larger possibility that there would be some downside to the demand forecast going forward. So right now, we are putting a top priority on strengthening our financial soundness. And internally, as a result, if we look at the CapEx going forward, we're going to be on the larger side, which would be at the 30% range or so. in terms of how much we want to cut back. So in terms of the expansion going forward, we will try to decrease that and also maximize the overall operational efficiencies that we're able to achieve.

At the same time, at the company level, we are very focused on the utilization and also the investments in infrastructure that are needed recently because of the recent increase that we see. So for the time being, the overall plan that we have is to not invest into any new capacity. At the same time, we want to prevent any overcapacity situation and also save back on our CapEx as much as possible. So we want to utilize as much as possible the overall existing sites that we have and maximize the efficiencies there. So at the beginning of this month, we did decide to acquire the Michigan Lansing site from GM.

In addition, going forward, in line with the market development and also customer demand, this is something that we will be closely looking at. And then in the case of Poland, right now, there is some available EV capacity that we are going to, very quickly, laid over for ESS purposes. And for the existing sites that we have, there are some available building spaces and also equipment that can be used. So this will be used for other applications and other chemistry demands that we have. And through this, we will try to quickly recover the overall utilization and also be prepared for any future downside risk for demand.

[Operator]

[Foreign Language] The next question will be presented by Dong Jin Kang from Hyundai Motor Securities.

[Dong Jin Kang, analyst]

[Interpreted] There are 2 questions that I would like to ask you. First is that if you look at the U.S. tariff situation, there seems to be a lot of changes that are taking place and a lot of volatility there. So it's difficult to expect what is going to happen in the future. However, if you were to forecast the overall demand and also the impact on the industry, what would be your view of the situation? And how is the company planning to deal with that accordingly?

The second question that I would like to ask you is about your North America ESS business. This is something that you emphasized and also indicated that you want to increase going forward. So what would be the strategy there? And in addition to that, if you were to compare yourself versus the Chinese players within the market, what do you think your competitive edge would be?

[Unknown Executive]

[Interpreted] This is [indiscernible] from Business Strategy. Maybe I can take the first question. Thank you for asking a question about our U.S. business. So to talk about the impact that we think U.S. tariffs will have and what the way it will be going forward. Of course, if you look at the current situation from the Trump administration, there are various plans that it has put out around tariffs. And if you look at what was announced most recently, the Trump administration has decided for the next 2 years to provide a certain tax credit for foreign produced parts in the case that the final car is produced in the U.S.

So as a result of this announcement, we think that for tariff policy specifically, if you look at the impact on the auto industry in the U.S. versus other industry that on a relative basis, there will be more of a limited impact going forward. However, in the case of Chinese produced goods, there is no separate exemption that has been provided. And for all items across the board, there is a 125% reciprocal tariff that is being levied. So therefore, in the case that a company has a strong dependency on a Chinese included supply chain, we do think that there will be an increase in the cost that they will experience as a result.

As a company that has preemptively built out a local presence in the North American market and also has also been able to decouple from China in terms of its supply chain. We do think that there is a more favorable business environment that is being created for our operations. In particular, in terms of demand, there can be some volatility in the EV market related demand. However, on the ESS side, we do think that as a result of the recent developments, there will be more opportunities that we will be able to enjoy going forward. So the way that we want to deal with this overall situation is that in the North American region, we have a total 8 production sites, including our OEM JVs.

And we are continuously focusing on localizing our battery production. In addition to that, we also have an overall chain of systems in which we can deal with all of our applications across EVs, small batteries and ESS. So for the past 2 years, we have been very focused on preparing to build out a supply chain that is decoupled from China. This is to ensure that we're trying to address any supply chain-related risk and also the IRA satisfactory in terms of the requirements. And going forward, this is an effort that we will continue to accelerate.

In particular, if you look at the U.S. ESS market and for Chinese ESS batteries, we do think that the Chinese players will not be able to enter the market for the time being. So based upon our more favorable tariff conditions and also the favorable backdrop that we have. We do think that we want to utilize this competitive edge as much as possible to try to gain new orders within the ESS market and also minimize any impact that there may be on revenue from the decline in EV demand.

[Minsu Kim, executive]

[Interpreted] So this is Kim Minsu from the ESS Battery Planning and Management division and maybe I can address the second question that you have. So first, if you look at the U.S. ESS market, of course, there is demand coming from renewable energy and also new investments that are taking place in the grid. In addition to that, there is an increase in electricity demand due to the increase in AI data centers that is taking place, so we do think that this represents growth opportunities for us.

So what we are going to do is focusing on the electricity grid. If you look at it on a capacity basis, we think that there will be a 20% growth going forward, and that's the expectations that we have for the market. In addition to that, because there are stronger measures that are being taken against China, such as the recent tariff increases, for companies such as us that do have local production capabilities, we do think that there is a favorable business environment that is being created.

So our plans would be to start the mass production of LFP products in the second quarter from our Michigan entity. And if you look at these products versus the existing short-cell LFPs that are available in the market, the capacity is 3x higher. The energy density is 20% better. So not only would this be cost competitive, but we do think that on a product basis also that the overall competitiveness has been improved. In addition to that, using the U.S. produced batteries that we are currently providing, if the customer builds out an ESS site, then for some of the CapEx that they have put into the ESS site, they would be eligible for investment tax credits.

So we do think that, that also will add on to make us more cost competitive in this market. So for the U.S. market, we will continue -- we do continue to see that there are a lot of business cooperation needs that are increasing for partners that would like to work with us. So the focus for us will be to start the mass production of the Michigan capacity as early as possible to maximize our revenue and also look at new order business opportunities going forward to be able to ensure that we can lead this market.

[Operator]

[Foreign Language] The following question will be presented by [indiscernible] from Kiwoom Securities.

[Unknown Analyst]

[Interpreted] There are 2 questions that I would like to ask you. The first question is related to the 46-series. How is the preparation for that going forward? And in addition to that, what are the trends that you see in the OEMs trying to diversify their form factors? And what would be the strategy that the company has to address this overall trend?

The second question that I would like to ask you is about your funding plans going forward. It seems to me that including your competitors, there are some companies that are having difficulties on funding the needs that they have. So does the company have any plans to finance or raise any funding going forward? And if so, what would those plans be?

[Unknown Executive]

[Interpreted] So maybe I can address the first question that you have on the 46 series. This is [indiscernible] from the Mobility and IT Planning and Management division. So if we look at the Ochang capacity for 46-series right now, mass production preparations have been completed. So once we have finalized the actual supply timing with our customers, we will be able to start mass production. Since the 46-series in itself is a new form factor, right now, we're focusing on achieving the highest level of technology readiness available and also strengthening our mass production competitiveness to ensure that these are in place.

In addition, for the 46 series themselves, we will be applying next-generation packaging technology to maximize the overall energy density levels. And at the same time, we're also going to utilize higher speed facilities to increase the overall capabilities that we have for mass production. At the same time, if you look at our capacity in Arizona to produce the 46 series batteries. Right now, we are in discussions not only with our key existing customers but -- and also the legacy OEMs in which we recently have been able to announce various supply agreements with. But we also have discussions that are ongoing with a multiple number of other customers about future projects.

So by diversifying the form factors and also diversifying our demand sources. We want to be able to address the growth opportunities and demand that we see and also diversify our revenue sources.

[Unknown Executive]

[Interpreted] So yes, this is [indiscernible], Head of the Finance and Accounting Group. And maybe I can address question about our funding plans going forward. So if you look at the overall funding that we needed for this year, in line with the overall CapEx that we have estimated in the first quarter, we actually did do some funding activities. So in the Korean market, there was around KRW 1.6 trillion in the offshore U.S. dollar market, we raised about USD 2 billion by issuing corporate debentures. And this was done at the HQ level.

At the overseas subsidy level for the various entities and also for the JV operations that we have. According to the pace of CapEx execution that is required at each of the entities, there will be a mix of equity and debt financing that they would be utilizing to ensure that they can secure the funding that they need in a timely manner. So in the case of our overseas subsidiaries, specifically for the Stellantis JV last year, they did get an approval from the Canada export development in Canada. So there was a line of around KRW 1.3 billion that was -- that has been made available to them. So they will be drawing down on that going forward.

And for the Michigan entity and also the HMC related JV, they will also be utilizing and raising the financing needed through form such as a syndicated loan in line with their CapEx execution plans and also according to the needs that they see. So outside of what has just been mentioned, we don't believe that for this year, there will be any additional financing that we will require in line with the overall plan that we have to cut back on our CapEx. However, that have been said, we will continue to monitor the business environment and the financial markets and also try to take a flexible stance towards our funding strategy.

[Operator]

[Foreign Language] The next question will be presented by Chuljoong Kim from Mirae Asset Securities.

[Chuljoong Kim, analyst]

[Interpreted] And there are 2 questions that I would like to ask you. I think that a lot has already been answered. But specifically, I would like to ask about your utilization and also a question about related to GM. So first on the utilization side, I think that if you look at the current levels on the utilization situation is a bit challenging. So under a low utilization environment, what would be the overall impact that you see on your profitability. In addition to that, for the level of utilization that would be required for the company to be breakeven. What would that be? And what is the company's strategy over the short term and also mid- to long-term horizon to try to improve utilization?

The second question that I would like to ask is related to GM. So if you look at the recent first quarter. It does seem to be that not only for the AMPC amount, but the first quarter performance in general has been better than what the market had initially expected. I do think that there is some concern that this may be an acceleration of or front-loading situation in line of the tariff trends going forward. So how does the company see the performance taking place across -- towards the end of the year going into the second half of the year? Specifically related to GM, how do you see the performance going forward?

[Unknown Executive]

[Interpreted] So maybe I can address your first question about the utilization and what level of utilization would be required to meet BP. So answering this question, I am [indiscernible] from the Planning and Management Department. So if you look at the overall structure that we have for various production sites and in terms of the size and the cost structure, by location and by site. In actuality, there are a lot of differences. In particular, if we build a capacity and there are capacity additions from the initial start of the capacity online to the actual ramp-up to meeting profitability, there is a certain amount of time that is required.

So therefore, I think that it's difficult to give you one straight answer about what the minimum utilization rate would be for us to be able to reach BP level. But if we were to talk about how we want to improve our utilization going forward, as we have already mentioned many times during the call, there is a lot of volatility in the external environment and also a lot of uncertainties surrounding demand. So we think that our customers will continue to manage inventory at conservative levels and moderate the pace of EV production.

So for the weaker demand that we see in general, we do think that our low utilization situation is a reflection of that. So to increase the overall volume that we're able to secure and improve our utilization and also ensure that we can secure the profitability that is required within the year, we will be launching new products in Europe for EV vehicles. And also, we are going to start the mass production of our ESS line in Europe.

In the U.S., taking into consideration our customer situation, we are going to try to pace ourselves in terms of our CapEx and investment pace. And on a relative basis, look at areas in which there is more -- less impact from policy changes and also stronger demand, which would be the ESS market. So for the ESS LFP batteries, we are going to try to push forward in a rapid manner with local production of our production capacity there for mass production and also try to achieve an economy of scale as early as possible.

[Unknown Executive]

[Interpreted] So this is [indiscernible] from the Advanced Automotive Battery Planning and Management division. And maybe I can address the question that you have asked about GM and also the overall demand trends that we see towards the second half of the year and also for the full year. If you look at the first quarter sales volume that we had towards GM, from the fourth quarter of last year, there has continuously been a very conservative stance for inventory management. And as that continued, we actually saw a slight decrease on a quarter-over-quarter basis.

However, on the customer side for their sales performance in the first quarter for EV, because there has been a month-over-month increase in their sales volume of mass EV models such as the Equinox, Blazer or LYRIQ. I do think that there has been a stronger performance than had been expected. Going forward, in particular for new launches or new models that have been launched, such as the OPTIQ, which is the Cadillac midsize SUV. We do see a very clear increase in sales there. And also on the Cadillac new larger size SUV model, which would be VISTIQ, we do think that from the second quarter, there will be a full-fledged increase in the overall sales on that side.

So according to the overall customer sales trends that we see, we do think that there could be opportunities for more battery sales on our side. In the case of GM, the electrification stance, I do think that they are a bit more aggressive than others. However, that have been said, if you look at the overall tariff policies with U.S. right now, there's a lot of volatility there. And also, on the EV strategy in itself, there could be some adjustments because as the overall vehicle prices increase so the end user or end customer demand could also change.

So right now, for demand, we are trying to take assumptions that would be a bit conservative and continue to closely communicate with our customer to appropriately manage our production volume accordingly.

[Portions of this transcript that are marked [Interpreted] were spoken by an interpreter present on the live call.]