Kim Yang-taek, the executive vice president of SK Inc.'s Advanced Materials Investment Center, talks about future investment goals in the advanced materials sector. Screenshot from SK Inc.'s video

By Kim Hyun-bin

The global trend of environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) is changing how local conglomerates hold their shareholders' meetings. Many listed companies are now more conscious of ESG values, and are increasing transparency in their business performance, governance structures and efforts to conduct general shareholders' meetings online so as to increase participation amid the pandemic.

Last week, SK Inc. released a video of its performance in the advanced materials business sector ahead of a general shareholders' meeting scheduled for today to provide a vision to shareholders of what the company seeks to accomplish.

The firm announced its goal of investing a total of 5.1 trillion won by 2025 in the semiconductor materials and battery materials businesses to become the globally leading high-tech materials company.

In the video, Kim Yang-taek, head of SK Inc.'s Advanced Materials Investment Center, explained the performance and background of its subsidiaries, SK Siltron and SK Materials, as well as ongoing investments and industry prospects.

"This video was designed to more easily share with shareholders the specific business results and plans according to the blueprint announced last year in a move to strengthen communication with them," a SK official explained.

There is also a movement to systematize board activities and information disclosure to clarify governance and increase its transparency.

SK Inc. completely revised its corporate governance charter recently, including specific details concerning the roles of the board of directors, operational plans and shareholder rights. The major change is to broaden the scope of communication with shareholders and stakeholders to fulfill ESG principles, and to mandate reporting the results of their activities to the board of directors.

The governance committee under the board of directors of SK Inc. is composed of five outside directors, and has been engaged in discussions for four months to revise the corporate governance charter.

In addition, SK Inc. is among the first major holding companies to introduce a board skills matrix. This matrix shows the varied professional skills and attributes of each member of the board of directors in the relevant business.

In Korea, only a handful of companies have introduced board skills matrices, including SK Inc., KB Financial Group and KT&G, but they are expected to spread throughout the local business community along with the recent ESG boom, encouraging diversity among board members.

"The changes to shareholders' meetings of Korean listed companies this year show that ESG is exerting great influence in Korea as well," a major conglomerate official said.

Individual shareholders are calling for increased dividends, and many companies are announcing dividend hikes at their respective general shareholders meetings this year. According to the Corporate Data Research Center, two out of three domestic listed companies are set to increase their dividends this year.

SK Inc. is set to announce its largest dividend payout at the general shareholders' meeting today, after the company decided at the end of 2021 to pay 8,000 won per share, including an interim dividend of 1,500 won per share.

Hyundai Motor Company also raised its dividend per share from 3,000 won to 5,000 won this year, and major affiliates of LG Group also increased their dividends. LG Innotek raised its dividend per share to 3,000 won from 700 won, and LG Display, which succeeded in turning a profit of 2 trillion won, did not pay dividends in 2020, but plans to pay a dividend of 650 won per share.