SEOUL, July 28 (Reuters) - SK Innovation Co Ltd (096770.KS), owner of South Korea's top refiner SK Energy, said on Friday it expects refining margins to gradually improve in the second half thanks to favourable market conditions backed by solid travel season demand.
Analysts said SK Innovation's refining business had been hit by declines in refining margins and oil prices, while its battery business had continued generating losses due to costs related to its newly set up U.S. battery plants.
SK Innovation's battery unit SK On, which was split off last year, accounted for about 20% of the company's revenue in the second quarter.
SK Innovation said it expects its battery unit's profitability to improve in the second half thanks to the U.S. tax subsidies from the Inflation Reduction Act.
Shares of SK Innovation were trading down 0.9%, versus benchmark KOSPI's (.KS11) 0.5% fall at 0210 GMT.
Persons:
Refinitiv SmartEstimate, Kim Kyunghoon, 1,282.8300, Heekyong Yang, Joyce Lee, Jamie Freed, Kim Coghill
Organizations:
SK Innovation Co, refiner SK Energy, Analysts, SK Innovation's, SK, SK Innovation, Ford Motor, Hyundai Motor, Chief, SK On's, LG Energy, Thomson
Locations:
SEOUL, North America, Europe