Irem

IREM is a steel materials company built on two core segments: stainless steel pipes and integrated deck plates. The stainless pipe segment supplies corrosion-resistant pipes across construction, shipbuilding, automotive, machinery, and energy industries.

The deck plate segment produces Super Deck, demolded Super Deck, and wide integrated deck products, including a 750mm-wide integrated deck described as a domestically exclusive product.

The company built and expanded a plant in Buan, North Jeolla Province to increase production of high-margin thick-wall pipes (8.0-31.0mm thickness), raising capacity to roughly 21,000 tons to expand supply of premium pipes to shipbuilding customers.

It also secured equipment and facilities from Gilsan Steel, described as the country's leading stainless processing center, to directly operate a coil center and diversify sales beyond pipes into coils, sheets, and skelp.

As a new growth initiative, the company took an equity stake in affiliate XRB's vanadium redox flow battery ESS business, and XRB began operating a 100MWh-per-year production line at IREM's Eumseong plant site in Chungcheongbuk-do.

Competitively, a global economic slowdown and intensifying protectionism have sharpened price competition in the domestic stainless pipe market, while the deck plate business faces pressure from a weaker construction cycle.

IREM's consolidated revenue grew from KRW 66.6 billion in 2022 to KRW 76.8 billion in 2023 and KRW 109.8 billion in 2024, before declining to KRW 92.0 billion in 2025.

On profitability, the company posted operating profit of KRW 1.99 billion (3.0% margin) in 2022 and KRW 0.98 billion (1.3%) in 2023, but swung to an operating loss of KRW 4.72 billion (-4.3%) in 2024 and a much wider operating loss of KRW 13.89 billion (-15.1%) in 2025.

Net income followed a similar pattern, from profits of KRW 2.92 billion in 2022 and KRW 0.10 billion in 2023 to net losses of KRW 14.90 billion in 2024 and KRW 16.83 billion in 2025.

On a quarterly basis, revenue was KRW 23.07 billion with an operating loss of KRW 3.07 billion and a net loss of KRW 1.21 billion in 2025Q2; revenue rose slightly to KRW 23.84 billion in 2025Q3 but the net loss widened to KRW 3.60 billion; and in 2025Q4 revenue fell sharply to KRW 18.42 billion, with the operating loss reaching KRW 5.13 billion and the net loss peaking at KRW 8.09 billion.

In 2026Q1, losses narrowed somewhat with revenue of KRW 16.99 billion, an operating loss of KRW 2.36 billion, and a net loss of KRW 3.01 billion, but 2026Q2 saw revenue decline again to KRW 15.75 billion while the operating loss widened to KRW 4.42 billion and the net loss reached KRW 5.39 billion.

Over the trailing four quarters (2025Q3-2026Q2), the cumulative net loss attributable to owners totaled approximately KRW 20.1 billion, indicating the loss trend has persisted despite quarter-to-quarter fluctuation.

On cash flow, operating cash flow remained slightly positive at KRW 0.41 billion in 2025, down sharply from KRW 5.82 billion in 2024, while total equity fell from KRW 52.66 billion in 2024 to KRW 39.84 billion in 2025 and the debt ratio rose from 147.5% to 151.6%.

The domestic stainless steel pipe industry is in a phase of intensifying domestic price competition amid a global economic slowdown and growing protectionism.

The construction-related deck plate market faces a combined pressure of a weaker construction cycle, tight real estate financing, and raw material price volatility.

On the other hand, growing demand from semiconductor, display, refining, and shipbuilding industries, along with a shift from carbon steel to stainless materials, are cited as medium- to long-term growth drivers for the pipe market.

IREM is attempting to differentiate itself from the highly competitive commodity segment through exclusive products such as premium thick-wall pipes for shipbuilding customers and its 750mm wide integrated deck.

In the ESS space, demand for long-duration storage technologies such as vanadium redox flow batteries is gaining attention as AI data center expansion drives higher power demand, with research firm BloombergNEF having projected a 61% year-on-year increase in ESS installations.

However, this new business remains at an early stage with unproven revenue contribution, and it still needs to build a track record of commercialization against established lithium-ion battery competitors.

IREM continued its capital-raising activity into 2026, disclosing a small-scale rights offering (KRW 1.0 billion, for debt repayment) in February and a shareholder rights offering (4.8 million shares at a planned issue price of KRW 2,360) in April.

However, the April offering faced repeated changes of subscriber and schedule delays, and ultimately closed via a third-party allotment with the controlling shareholder stepping back in as subscriber, raising a total of KRW 4.7 billion — though a large portion was processed as debt offset, meaning actual cash inflow fell short of the original plan.

On the operating side, key items to watch include whether expanded thick-wall pipe capacity for shipbuilding customers and cost/sales diversification benefits from the Gilsan Steel coil center acquisition materialize in future results.

In its new ESS business, affiliate XRB has begun production at a 100MWh-per-year facility at the Eumseong plant, while running parallel demonstration projects with a domestic power generation utility and joint research with overseas institutions to build a commercialization track record.

The company has also stated it obtained an environmental footprint certification as the first in the domestic stainless pipe industry through a Samsung C&T-affiliated program, suggesting room to expand sales to major construction clients on the back of eco-certification.

That said, the history of repeated and delayed capital raises suggests a need to monitor further potential dilution from additional rights offerings or convertible bond issuance.