Much attention is being paid to how the seasonal factor of large-scale dividend remittance by foreigners will affect South Korea’s current account balance and foreign exchange rate.On April 12, the won-dollar exchange rate rose 3.7 won to close at 1,124.9 won per U.S. dollar. The rate rose for the t
EOFlow, a Korean pharmaceutical company that has developed an innovative wearable insulin pump, plans to expand its wearable drug delivery solutions to other non-insulin drugs.The company disclosed this plan during a session at the 2021 spring symposium of the Korean Endocrine Society, which was hel
The author is an analyst of NH Investment & Securities. She can be reached at hzl.lee@nhqv.com. -- Ed. Astory’s average production costs per project have been trended upwards. Thus, thanks to its high hit ratios and proven negotiating power on a global stage, it appears that the firm is expanding in
The authors are analysts of NH Investment & Securities. They can be reached at ys.hwang@nhqv.com and j.ko@nhqv.com, respectively. -- Ed. A settlement has been reached in the LG-SK litigation, with SK agreeing to pay a total of W2tn, including W1tn in cash and W1tn in royalties. We believe that the s
Financial authorities will launch a full-fledged investigation into allegations that Hyundai Motor executives traded stocks using undisclosed information related to potential cooperation in Apple’s self-driving car project.The Korea Exchange had conducted a review of the allegations since February a
The author is an analyst of NH Investment & Securities. He can be reached at jack.baek@nhqv.com. -- Ed. Seohee Construction specializes in contract construction for local housing associations, pursuing medium-risk and medium-profit. The company has a platform (Seohee GO-zip) that transparently discl
The author is an analyst of NH Investment & Securities. He can be reached at dongyang.kim@nhqv.com. -- Ed. Backed by an accelerating digital transformation, the mid/long-term growth potential of Samsung SDS’s strategic IT service business stands out. We expect the firm’s 2021 OP to rise 10% y-y on r
The author is an analyst of Shinhan Investment Corp. He can be reached at sh.kim@shinhan.com. -- Ed. 1Q21 preview: NP to beat consensus at KRW603.3bn (+16% YoY)Woori Financial Group’s net profit of controlling interest is expected to have climbed 16% YoY to KRW603.3bn in 1Q21, exceeding the current
The Bank of Korea announced on April 7 that South Korea’s current account surplus was US$8.03 billion in February this year, the surplus increased US$1.62 billion compared to February 2020, and South Korea posted a surplus for the 10th consecutive month.The goods account surplus decreased from US$6.
The author is an analyst of NH Investment & Securities. He can be reached at junsup@nhqv.com. -- Ed. We believe that the earnings bonanza at KIH that kicked off in 2Q20 sustained in 1Q21. Despite market volatility, the firm’s 2021E P/E of 5.3x looks undervalued considering the possibility that its 2
The author is an analyst of NH Investment & Securities. He can be reached at junsup@nhqv.com. -- Ed. Samsung Securities’ wealth management (WM) strengths, which have thus far been seen mainly in offline channels, have begun to shine in the online arena as well. We believe that the company is better-
The author is an analyst of NH Investment & Securities. He can be reached at junsup@nhqv.com. -- Ed. With Korea’s leading fintech securities having set their eyes firmly onto the domestic brokerage market, we note that Kiwoom Securities’ mobile trading system (MTS) has accumulated more than 3mn MAUs
The author is an analyst of NH Investment & Securities. He can be reached at junsup@nhqv.com. -- Ed. Since the outbreak of Covid-19, MTS traffic at securities firms has picked up rapidly on strong retail investor inflow into the stock market. Foreseeing a possible evolution of MTSs, we believe that
Creditors are increasingly agonizing over the start of SsangYong Motor's rehabilitation process.The Seoul Rehabilitation Court sent a letter of opinion to creditors of SsangYong Motor on April 1, asking if SsangYong would start its rehabilitation process, and the creditors failed to make a decis
Semiconductor manufacturers are having a hard time tackling the problem of increasing carbon emissions attributable to an increase in their electric power consumption in the current super-cycle. This problem is affecting foreign companies such as TSMC as well as South Korean companies such as Samsun
The three foreign-owned automakers in Korea -- GM Korea, Renault Samsung Motors and SsangYong Motor –- logged in the first quarter of 2021 the lowest sales since the 2009 foreign exchange crisis in Korea.Their combined domestic sales totaled 43,109 units in the first quarter, down 23.8 percent from
The Korea Economic Research Institute has recently analyzed 1,017 KOSPI- and KOSDAQ-listed non-financial companies and announced on April 5 that the interest coverage ratio of approximately 25 percent of them is less than 100 percent although the 1,017 companies’ total operating profit increased 24.
The Korea Institute of Public Finance announced on April 5 that South Korea’s household debt-to-GDP ratio increased from 71 percent in 2008 to 98.6 in the second quarter of 2020. In this period, the average of those of advanced economies fell from 76.2 percent to 75.3 percent and the global average
Hyundai Capital dwarfs other large Korean financial companies such as banks and insurance companies in terms of global business. Hyundai Capital accounted for more than one-third of the total net profit earned overseas by Korean financial companies as a whole, a report showed."Korean financial firms
South Korean companies’ business ties with the military of Myanmar are being increasingly condemned along with the military. Especially, even shareholders, not to mention human rights groups, are urging POSCO to sever its relationship with the Myanmar military.Dutch pension fund APG, one of the shar