PER, EPS, PBR and BPS are calculated in-house from the last 4 quarters (2025Q3–2026Q2) · Dividend yield is based on ₩260 per share · Prices as of the 2026-10-02 close
Smart-meter, high-temperature and defense batteries have lifted both revenue and operating margin for four straight years, but a softer second-quarter 2026 margin and the late-August warehouse fire at Dangjin now sit on the other side of the ledger.
Consolidated revenue rose from KRW 140.98bn in 2022 to KRW 243.08bn in 2025, while operating margin improved for four consecutive years from 20.4% to 28.5%.
Second-quarter 2026 revenue reached KRW 76.17bn versus KRW 56.51bn a year earlier, but operating margin slipped to 24.6% from 28.5%.
A three-year, KRW 180.2bn smart-meter battery contract with Xylem of the US (January 2026 to December 2028) underpins base volume, while orders from India's BEL and Korea's DAPA supplement defense revenue.
The October 2025 acquisition of Canada's Innova Power Solutions shifted the high-temperature battery business toward combined cell-and-pack supply.
The loss from the August 31, 2026 warehouse fire at Dangjin and the test results for the new data-center capacitor business are the key items to verify in the second half.
Founded in 1987, Vitzrocell specializes in lithium primary batteries, with core lines spanning batteries for smart meters, military communications gear and tracking devices, thermal and ampoule batteries for guided weapons and shells, high-temperature cells for oil drilling, and EDLC supercapacitors.
It is also investing in film-type batteries, special-purpose secondary cells and materials, and lithium recycling. The revenue mix is export-heavy; the company has stated that more than 80% of sales come from exports (January 2024 interview).
In smart metering, it signed a KRW 180.2bn lithium battery supply contract with US water technology group Xylem running from January 2026 to December 2028, about 28.1% larger than the prior three-year deal struck in 2022.
On the defense side, it contracted with India's Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) for KRW 7.5bn of military ampoule batteries for India's Ministry of Defence; ampoule batteries power the electronic fuzes of smart munitions.
Domestically, six contracts worth a combined KRW 16.6bn with Korea's Defense Acquisition Program Administration cover 13 battery types including the BA-701K, to be delivered progressively through October 2026.
In high-temperature cells, the company acquired Canada's Innova Power Solutions for KRW 33.6bn in October 2025, extending from cells into packs; Innova has supplied packs to the North American oil and gas drilling industry for over 20 years, with annual revenue of roughly KRW 20bn and an estimated 30% share of the North American high-temperature pack market.
Thermal batteries are purchased from affiliate Vitzro Miltech and resold, which carries a structurally lower margin according to a July 2026 IBK Securities report. The result is a three-pillar portfolio: smart metering and IoT as cash cow, high-temperature cells as growth driver, defense as margin and visibility.
| Quarter | Revenue | Operating profit | Op. margin |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025Q2 | ₩56.5B | ₩16.1B | 28.5% |
| 2025Q3 | ₩55.3B | ₩16.7B | 30.2% |
| 2025Q4 | ₩77.3B | ₩21.3B | 27.6% |
| 2026Q1 | ₩68.3B | ₩20.3B | 29.7% |
| 2026Q2 | ₩76.2B | ₩18.8B | 24.6% |
| Year | Revenue | Operating profit | Net income (parent) | Op. margin | ROE | Debt-to-equity |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | ₩141B | ₩28.8B | ₩23.1B | 20.4% | 12.4% | 27.7% |
| 2023 | ₩176.2B | ₩37.7B | ₩36.1B | 21.4% | 15.6% | 10.6% |
| 2024 | ₩210.8B | ₩51.9B | ₩51.3B | 24.6% | 18.1% | 12.3% |
| 2025 | ₩243.1B | ₩69.3B | ₩56.9B | 28.5% | 17.2% | 12.2% |
Consolidated basis (financial statements including subsidiaries) · Final figures from DART filings · Net income attributable to owners of the parent · Data as of 2026-09-04
On confirmed consolidated figures, revenue grew for four straight years: KRW 140.98bn in 2022, KRW 176.22bn in 2023, KRW 210.78bn in 2024 and KRW 243.08bn in 2025.
Operating profit followed the same path at KRW 28.83bn, KRW 37.69bn, KRW 51.91bn and KRW 69.27bn, with operating margin rising from 20.4% to 21.4%, 24.6% and 28.5%.
In 2025, net profit attributable to owners was KRW 56.92bn against operating cash flow of KRW 63.59bn, while liabilities of KRW 40.35bn versus equity of KRW 330.49bn kept the debt-to-equity ratio at 12.2%.
Quarterly, the fourth quarter of 2025 set a record with revenue of KRW 77.28bn and operating profit of KRW 21.33bn, followed by KRW 68.27bn and KRW 20.28bn (29.7% margin) in the first quarter of 2026 and KRW 76.17bn and KRW 18.76bn (24.6%) in the second.
Second-quarter 2026 revenue rose sharply from KRW 56.51bn a year earlier, but profit growth lagged, so top-line expansion did not translate fully into margin expansion.
On that margin softness, IBK Securities noted in a July 2026 report that additional executive severance and incentive payments were booked in the second quarter.
Some market commentary also argued that second-quarter operating profit falling short of the consensus estimate of KRW 22.6bn weakened confidence in earnings momentum (Hankyung, August 2026).
By segment, Shinhan Securities said in May 2026 that first-quarter high-temperature battery revenue was KRW 17.2bn, up 95.5% year on year, with ampoule and thermal batteries at KRW 9.8bn, up 22.6%.
Notably, net profit attributable to owners of KRW 20.23bn in the first quarter and KRW 17.30bn in the second sat close to or above operating profit, implying that non-operating items are a meaningful swing factor.
End markets for lithium primary batteries split into three distinct streams. First, smart meters and IoT, tied to gas and water meter replacement cycles and metering automation budgets, which makes demand relatively predictable.
The company has said it holds over 80% share in Italy, with rising gas meter replacement demand in Europe and a water meter business now expanding. Second, high-temperature cells for oil and gas drilling, which track North American drilling activity and crude prices.
A February 2026 brokerage report estimated, against a backdrop of resumed North American drilling, that high-temperature battery revenue would grow from KRW 32.8bn in 2024 to KRW 50.0bn in 2025 and KRW 71.6bn in 2026, with profitability improving as the company shifts to bundled cell-plus-pack supply.
Third, defense: the same report tallied defense battery revenue rising from KRW 26.5bn in 2023 to KRW 49.5bn in 2024 and KRW 55.8bn in 2025, lifting its share of total sales from 15.0% to 23.2%, with combined ampoule and thermal battery revenue up from KRW 13.4bn in 2023 to KRW 42.4bn in 2025.
On competitive position, IBK Securities assessed in July 2026 that the company already ranks first globally in military ampoule batteries and that capacity shortfalls among smaller players leave room for entry into new markets.
Still, the smart-meter segment faces constant price and delivery competition from global lithium primary peers, and high-temperature cell volumes adjust downward when crude prices and drilling budgets turn. In practice, defense and IoT act as cycle buffers while high-temperature cells amplify the cycle.
Management's stated growth levers run along two tracks: defense capacity and new businesses. Ampoule battery capacity is understood to be scaling from about 300,000 units a year in 2022 to roughly 2.4 million units in 2026 (IBK Securities, July 2026).
The same report said Turkish defense group Roketsan requested exclusive supply of the entire thermal battery capacity at Vitzro Miltech's Cheonan plant, with capacity set to double by July 2027 to meet demand.
For 2027, the doubling of the Cheonan thermal battery plant is expected alongside a new CFx drone battery plant at Dangjin.
On new businesses, the company opened a "BoT Center" capable of producing lithium-ion capacitors, VHC and EDLC for AI data centers as well as Li/CFx-MnO2 cells for military drones, with planned investment of KRW 75.0bn in 2026-2027, KRW 30.0bn in 2028-2029 and KRW 17.0bn in 2030-2031.
That said, the data-center backup power market, while large, was described as at a very early stage and excluded from earnings estimates, with second-half product testing flagged as something to track (IBK Securities, July 2026).
On the earnings bar, Samsung Securities forecast in a July 2026 report revenue of KRW 321.6bn, operating profit of KRW 98.0bn and a 30.5% operating margin for this year, arguing that the Canadian pack acquisition and a North American competitor's fire would support second-half growth and profitability.
Market consensus cited revenue of KRW 311.6bn and operating profit of KRW 92.7bn for 2026, and KRW 360.0bn and KRW 107.3bn for 2027 (Hankyung, August 2026). All of these are third-party estimates; confirmed results must be verified through quarterly filings.
The multiple applied to this company depends heavily on whether it is framed as a primary battery maker or a defense name.
In a July 2026 initiation report, IBK Securities applied a target multiple of 22.1x, a 25% discount to the 29.5x average forward multiple of Korea's four major defense firms to reflect the smaller defense revenue share, and set a target price of KRW 38,000.
By contrast, Samsung Securities said in a September 2, 2026 report that it lowered its target price to KRW 37,000, reflecting a drop in the average multiple of secondary battery peers from 40.3x to 34x and applying a 50% discount to a target 17x given that roughly 95% of the business is primary batteries.
Two houses are thus using target multiples nearly twice apart, and the share price has historically reacted more to which sector band the stock is grouped into than to reported numbers.
Against net assets, the stock trades at a premium, a backdrop consistent with operating margin climbing from the low 20s toward the high 20s while profits kept trending upward.
On dividends, a medium-term policy of holding a payout ratio near 20% for 2024-2026 before raising it above 25% from 2027 has been laid out (February 2026 brokerage report), and the absolute dividend yield sits at a modest level.
Note also that a larger share count makes simple historical comparison of per-share metrics difficult, so aggregate profit trends should be read alongside them.
PER, EPS, PBR and BPS are all calculated in-house (the same method as Naver and Toss) · Dividend yield = cash dividend per share from DART filings (supplemented by KRX) ÷ current price · As of 2026-09-04
Revenue rose from KRW 140.98bn in 2022 to KRW 243.08bn in 2025 and operating profit from KRW 28.83bn to KRW 69.27bn. Operating margin improved from 20.4% to 28.5% over the same span, indicating growth was not merely volume-driven.
Operating cash flow of KRW 63.59bn in 2025 exceeded net profit, pointing to sound cash conversion. The debt-to-equity ratio fell from 27.7% in 2022 to 12.2% in 2025.
The KRW 180.2bn Xylem contract runs three years from January 2026 to December 2028 and is about 28.1% larger than the prior three-year deal signed in 2022. Vitzrocell has supplied ampoule batteries to India's Ministry of Defence since 2016, building a long delivery record.
Wound cells for Korea's DAPA have been delivered since 1997. Given the long replacement cycles of infrastructure and military items, supply chains once entered tend to persist.
The October 2025 Innova acquisition added a business with roughly 30% share of the North American high-temperature pack market and annual revenue of about KRW 20bn. The deal brought the downhole tool battery pack business into consolidation and contributed to revenue growth.
Ampoule battery capacity is assessed to be expanding from 300,000 units a year in 2022 to about 2.4 million in 2026. Supplying cells and packs together leaves room for improvement in unit pricing and utilization.
Second-quarter 2026 operating margin was 24.6%, below 29.7% in the first quarter of 2026 and 30.2% in the third quarter of 2025. Revenue rose to KRW 76.17bn, yet operating profit slipped to KRW 18.76bn from KRW 20.28bn a quarter earlier.
IBK Securities pointed in a July 2026 report to additional executive severance and incentive costs booked in the quarter. If these are one-offs, margins should normalize, but if labor and incentive costs step up structurally through the growth phase, margin expectations need recalibration.
A fire broke out on the morning of August 31, 2026 in the warehouse building of a lithium battery plant in Hapdeok-eup, Dangjin, Chungnam province.
Samsung Securities said in a September 2 report that the production and warehouse buildings are separate, that the fire occurred in one of two warehouses, and that although military wound batteries were stored there, internal firewalls limited product damage.
The same report kept its earnings estimates unchanged because direct damage had not been quantified, and cautioned that judgment should await confirmation of loss costs and an official company statement. The timing and size of loss recognition, plus any insurance recovery, remain variables for second-half profit.
One analysis held that easing Middle East tensions, which had fueled expectations of stronger lithium primary battery demand in the first half, drove theme-related buying out of the stock (Hankyung, August 2026).
The same article noted that a broad sector de-rating, with the average multiple of secondary battery peers falling from 40.3x, also weighed on the shares.
Since geopolitics and sector multiples unrelated to reported results have explained much of the price action, stretches that cannot be read through fundamentals alone may recur. The same mechanism works both ways: demand expectations unwind when geopolitical events de-escalate.
Fire risk is intrinsic to manufacturing and storing lithium batteries. Fire authorities noted lithium batteries were stored inside the warehouse and that full extinguishment would take a long time. The company has previously disclosed that it suffered a major fire in April 2017.
Fires can ripple beyond inventory losses into certification and delivery schedules, insurance premiums and regulatory compliance costs.
High-temperature cells are directly tied to crude prices and North American drilling activity, so volumes adjust when drilling budgets shrink. With the company stating that over 80% of sales are exports, currency swings feed straight into earnings.
Lithium raw material prices and freight rates remain additional cost variables. A weaker dollar combined with falling oil prices could pressure both revenue and margin at once.
A plan has been laid out to invest KRW 75.0bn in the BoT Center in 2026-2027 plus a further KRW 47.0bn through 2031. The data-center market was described as at a very early stage, excluded from earnings estimates, with second-half product testing still to be watched (IBK Securities, July 2026).
With investment committed but revenue recognition timing uncertain, depreciation running ahead of sales could dilute margins. In addition, the single Xylem contract equates to a large portion of recent annual revenue, leaving large-customer dependence to be managed.
Company disclosures and an official statement on the direct damage from the Dangjin warehouse fire, insurance recovery and the production restart schedule. Samsung Securities said it kept estimates unchanged because damage was unquantified, so the confirmed loss figure becomes the starting point for second-half profit estimates.
Third-quarter 2026 results. The key checks are whether operating margin, which fell to 24.6% in the second quarter, recovers toward the 29.7% seen in the first quarter, and in which quarter fire-related costs are booked.
Completion of the KRW 16.6bn DAPA contract deliveries scheduled through October 2026 and of the KRW 8.4bn India BEL contract ending in November 2026, plus whether follow-on orders arrive. These gauge the continuity of defense revenue.
Customer test results for data-center capacitors (LIC, VHC, EDLC) from the BoT Center and progress on the KRW 75.0bn investment planned for 2026-2027. The fork is whether tests convert into orders or depreciation runs ahead alone.
The schedule for doubling thermal battery capacity at Vitzro Miltech's Cheonan plant and progress on the new CFx drone battery plant at Dangjin. Completion timing and utilization will determine the 2027 defense revenue contribution.
Vitzrocell's confirmed financials point in a consistent direction.
Revenue rose from KRW 140.98bn in 2022 to KRW 243.08bn in 2025 and operating margin improved for four straight years from 20.4% to 28.5%, while a 12.2% debt-to-equity ratio and KRW 63.59bn of operating cash flow in 2025 show growth backed by balance-sheet strength.
The business rests on three streams with different cycle characteristics: replacement demand in smart meters and IoT, high-temperature cells tied to the North American drilling cycle, and defense centered on ampoule and thermal batteries, which can offset or amplify one another.
On the other side, second-quarter 2026 revenue rose to KRW 76.17bn yet operating margin fell to 24.6%, and IBK Securities attributed this to additional executive severance and incentive costs.
Added to that, the August 31, 2026 fire in the warehouse building at the Dangjin plant leaves the size and timing of loss recognition as an open variable for second-half profit.
The growth levers, defense capacity expansion and data-center capacitors, come with concrete investment plans, but the new business remains at a very early stage and is excluded from earnings estimates, so verification steps remain.
In short, a confirmed profit trend and unconfirmed fire costs and new-business outcomes now sit side by side; this report is for information purposes and contains no buy or sell recommendation.
Report written 2026-09-05 · Data as of 2026-09-04
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