Embracing 勞 and raising expectations for this year's record-high report card
Samsung BioLogics (Samba), the first Korean pharmaceutical and bio industries to surpass 1 trillion won in annual operating profit last year, has eased its burden. It has achieved wage adjustment consultations between labor and management, which have been in deep conflict.
As a result, attention is being paid to whether Samba, which recorded the largest sales and operating profit last year, will break this year's sales and operating profit figures again by achieving "labor-management harmony."
According to Samba on Wednesday, the labor and management agreed to a preliminary increase of 5.3 percent this year, adding 3.2 percent to the basic increase rate and 2.1 percent to the performance increase rate. This is a 1.2 percent increase from the previous year's 4.1 percent.
This year's wage increase rate and treatment improvement plan were approved with about 80% of the votes for and against union members.
Samba said, "Labor and management have reached a smooth agreement based on mutual trust so that they can leap forward as a company that continues to grow together."
In response, the union was satisfied, saying, "We will try to co-exist with the company and establish a company that anyone wants to work for and a good working culture."
Earlier, Samba had an operating profit of KRW 1.1137 trillion last year, up 13% from the previous year. During the same period, sales increased 23% to KRW 3.69 trillion.
Operating profit and sales are the largest ever.
As of the end of last year, Samba had assets of 16.462 trillion won, capital of 9.8305 trillion won, and debt of 6.21 trillion won. The debt-to-equity ratio is 63.23%, and the debt-to-borrowing ratio is 16.6%, maintaining a stable financial position.
"We expect a difficult business environment to continue this year, but we will not stop challenging global top-tier companies," Samba President John Lim said at a regular shareholders' meeting on March 15. "All executives and employees will work together as one team to do their best."
Samba plans to accelerate its strategy to expand three pillars (production capacity, business portfolio, geographic base) this year and strengthen the value of '4E' such as customer satisfaction, operational efficiency, highest quality, and employee competency.
The construction of Songdo Plant 5, which is under construction with the aim of completing in April next year, is underway without a hitch, and plans to secure competitiveness in the ADC field through an antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) dedicated production facility scheduled to be completed in December.
[WIKI KOREA=Cho Pil Hyun, Staff Reporter]
chop23@wikileaks-kr.org
