Aekyung Industrial Reports 23% Decrease in Operating Profit... "Impact of Marketing Expenses"

[Asia Economy Reporter Yujin Cho] Aekyung Industrial announced on the 10th that its consolidated operating profit for last year was tentatively estimated at 60.6 billion KRW, a 23.5% decrease compared to the previous year.

During the same period, sales increased by 0.3% to 701.3 billion KRW, but net profit decreased by 28.1% to 43.7 billion KRW.

In the fourth quarter, sales reached 194.1 billion KRW, operating profit 16.6 billion KRW, and net profit 11.6 billion KRW, marking growth of 10.4%, 22.4%, and 18.8% respectively compared to the same period last year.

By business division, the household goods sector recorded an operating profit of 11.9 billion KRW last year, growing 34.4%. Sales also increased by 5.3% to 359.4 billion KRW, showing growth in both scale and substance.

Aekyung Industrial stated, "The household goods division's sales growth was driven by online channels," adding, "In particular, new products in the fabric softener category successfully settled, and export growth of personal care products such as hair and body contributed to sales expansion."

The cosmetics division was somewhat sluggish. Last year, sales and operating profit were 341.9 billion KRW and 48.7 billion KRW respectively, down 4.5% and 30.8% compared to the previous year.

The company explained, "Last year, amid difficult domestic and international conditions, we focused on reorganizing Chinese cosmetics sales channels and investing in brands, which led to a decline in performance."

However, reflecting the performance of the Singles' Day (Guanggunje) event, the fourth quarter saw sales grow 14.8% and operating profit 26.5% year-on-year, recording the highest quarterly sales. Sales on Tmall Global, with which a business agreement was signed, surged 371% on Singles' Day, driving the Chinese market performance.

Aekyung Industrial plans to continue investing in research and development and marketing this year. In the cosmetics business, the flagship brand Age 20's will newly enter the Health & Beauty (H&B) store channel to expand customer touchpoints and strengthen the brand lineup.

The household goods business plans to expand and strengthen new categories through investment in the hygiene-specialized brand Labsin, launched in the fourth quarter.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.