Lotte Shopping Regains No. 1 Market Cap, Overtaking Lotte Chemical After 11 Years

Lotte Group’s flagship listed affiliate has shifted from chemicals to retail for the first time in about 11 years. According to the Korea Exchange on May 13, Lotte Shopping rose for a fifth straight session to close at 160,100 won, with a market capitalization of 4.529 trillion won, ahead of Lotte Chemical’s 3.692 trillion won. Lotte Shopping benefited from its department-store business: operating profit topped 200 billion won in last year’s fourth quarter and reached 252.9 billion won in the first quarter, up 70.6% from a year earlier. Lotte Chemical, once a key growth driver, has seen its value fall to about one quarter of its peak amid a weak petrochemical cycle, though it returned to profit in the first quarter with 73.5 billion won in operating profit. Source: hankyung.com