The author is an analyst of NH Investment & Securities. He can be reached at jinmyung.choi@nhqv.com. -- Ed. DHIC’s earnings should normalize this year thanks to governance reform and business restructuring. Expectations are growing towards the export of nuclear plant equipment and materials for over
The author is an analyst of NH Investment & Securities. He can be reached at dongyang.kim@nhqv.com. -- Ed. Lotte Corp’s earnings visibility is to expand with increased equity stakes in subsidiaries and higher Lotte Shopping earnings. But, the resumption of IPO activity and the formation of an integr
Apple Korea’s sales amounted to approximately seven trillion won and its corporate tax payment was 31.3 billion won last year, when it sent 873 billion won, more than 700 percent of its net profit, to its U.S. parent company. For reference, Google Korea’s sales were 220.1 billion won last year, the
The author is an analyst of NH Investment & Securities. She can be reached at mj27@nhqv.com. -- Ed. Ottogi’s high-base and cost burdens should ease gradually after 4Q21. But, the firm will need to secure new growth engines by diversifying its regional and product portfolios and by advancing into new
SK Inc., the strategic investment arm of South Korea’s SK Group, announced on Dec. 16 that it has invested US$50 million in Fulcrum BioEnergy Inc., a U.S.-based waste-to-fuels company, jointly with a Korean private equity fund.Fulcrum is the first company in the U.S. to produce biofuel on a commerci
Hyundai Engineering announced on Dec. 13 that it has recently submitted a securities report for listing on the KOSPI to the Financial Services Commission.The company plans to offer a total of 16 million shares to public investors. The desired stock price per share ranges from 57,900 won to 75,700 wo
The author is an analyst of KB Securities. She can be reached at hyejung.jung@kbfg.com. -- Ed POSCO announces decision to adopt holding company structure— On Dec 10, 2021, POSCO’s board of directors approved a plan for governance structure reform, including its conversion to a holding company struct
POSCO Group will switch to a holding company system. The company's board of directors approved on Dec. 10 its plan to divide POSCO into POSCO Holdings (the surviving company) and POSCO, a newly created company that will carry out its steelmaking business."We believe a transition to a holding com
The author is an analyst of NH Investment & Securities. He can be reached at will.byun@nhqv.com. -- Ed. A reorganization in governance structure is expected for POSCO, in which a holding company POSCO is separated and listed and holds a 100% stake in unlisted operating subsidiary POSCO. Such governa
Korea is ranked fifth in the world in terms of digital potential, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun (Nikkei) reported on Dec. 7, quoting a survey conducted by the Japan Center for Economic Research (JCER).The survey selected Korea as a leading country in digital transformation (DX), which will determine econ
SK Group chairman Chey Tae-won said that his group has no plan to build a semiconductor manufacturing plant in the United States, adding, however, that it is studying preconditions for such an investment.The U.S. is a huge market but human resources and cost are problems, Chey said in an interview w
SK Group chairman Chey Tae-won met with Conni Jonsson, chairman of Swedish investment company EQT Partners AB, which is affiliated with the Wallenberg Family, on Dec. 3 and discussed ways to cooperate with each other.The Wallenberg Family is considered one of the world’s best business groups in the
POSCO Group is pushing for a shift to a holding company system. It intends to establish an investment-type holding company to strengthen its eco-friendly new businesses and thereby increase its corporate value. The group announced on Dec. 1 that it will put governance reform on the agenda of a board
The author is an analyst of NH Investment & Securities. He can be reached at dongyang.kim@nhqv.com. -- Ed. The Three Laws of Fair Economy have started to come into effect sequentially since end-2020, but given pre-emptive corporate governance restructuring and regulatory exceptions, external changes
The Korea Enterprises Federation recently conducted a survey at 220 foreign-invested enterprises and about half of them said that South Korea’s investment environment and regulations have not improved at all under the current administration.“More than 29 percent of the respondents with at least 300
The author is an analyst of NH Investment & Securities. He can be reached at jinmyung.choi@nhqv.com. -- Ed. Taking a mid/long-term view, we maintain a Positive stance towards the shipbuilding sector. The sector is expected to see healthy new orders next year. In 1H22, LNGC orders from Qatar are expe
Coway Co. announced on Nov. 16 that it has been included in the ‘2021 Dow Jones Sustainability World Index (“DJSI World”)’ for the sixth consecutive year. As the only Korean company to feature in the Household Durables industry, the achievement is even more momentous.Launched in 1999, the Dow Jones
The author is an analyst of NH Investment & Securities. He can be reached at dongyang.kim@nhqv.com. -- Ed. Upon completion of the LG-LX equity swap between major shareholders (the last step in separating LG-LX affiliates), LG Corp should be freed from undervaluation woes stemming from overhang conce
The author is an analyst of NH Investment & Securities. He can be reached at jinmyung.choi@nhqv.com. -- Ed. Greater focus should be paid to the jump in HMD’s orders than the increase in its costs. In our view, the more than doubling of orders y-y in 2021 highlights an important structural change in
EOFlow Co., a provider of wearable drug delivery solutions, announced on Nov. 9 that the company is initiating an environmentally-friendly disposal campaign to minimize the impact of used EOPatch pumps on the environment.As there are no environmental regulations or guidelines for proper disposal of