[Click eStock] "Lotte Shopping, Full-Scale Restructuring This Year...Expecting Performance Improvement"

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Jihwan] Ebest Investment & Securities evaluated that Lotte Shopping's restructuring will be in full swing this year, and performance improvement is expected accordingly. The investment opinion 'Buy' and the target price of 165,000 won were maintained.

Lotte Shopping's sales in the fourth quarter of last year recorded 4.3248 trillion won, a 1.7% decrease compared to the same period last year, and operating profit was 43.6 billion won, down 51.8%. This was influenced by a temporary reflection of increased depreciation expenses of 45.8 billion won and acquisition tax on REITs assets of 78.6 billion won.

Orin Ah, a researcher at Ebest Investment & Securities, said, "Among about 700 offline stores, we plan to boldly restructure about 200 underperforming stores," adding, "This is about 30% of all stores, and just as some department store locations were partially closed before, from this year, formats such as large marts, supermarkets, and LOBS will also close mainly underperforming stores."

He emphasized, "With the full-scale restructuring this year, we can expect mid- to long-term strengthening of the e-commerce sector through an integrated online strategy."

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