[Click eStock] "YG Entertainment, Operating Profit Expected to Exceed 10 Billion KRW in Second Half Even Without Big Bang"

[Asia Economy Reporter Oh Ju-yeon] Hana Financial Investment forecasted on the 12th that YG Entertainment's operating profit in the second half of this year will exceed 10 billion KRW solely from album sales through the comebacks of BLACKPINK and TREASURE.

Hana Financial Investment projected YG Entertainment's expected revenue and operating profit for the fourth quarter of this year to be 66.8 billion KRW and 8.3 billion KRW, respectively. With BLACKPINK's full-length album (1.2 million copies), TREASURE's first comeback, and Song Min-ho's solo comeback (110,000 copies), album sales are expected to reach 1.6 million copies, surpassing the combined total of the past two years. The third quarter revenue announced the previous day recorded 66.9 billion KRW, an 8% increase compared to the same period last year, and operating profit turned positive at 3.2 billion KRW.

Researcher Lee Ki-hoon of Hana Financial Investment stated, "Album sales are like multiples of concert audience numbers," adding, "BLACKPINK was the first girl group to exceed 1 million copies sold per album, and TREASURE has been at the level of 250,000 copies since debut." He further diagnosed, "With the end of the COVID-19 pandemic, a sharp profit improvement is expected due to the expansion of global management revenue."

Lee also mentioned, "In terms of digital music, quarterly revenue from Google is expected to surpass 4 billion KRW, and revenue from China is also expected to be reflected in the 1 billion KRW range."

Additionally, he analyzed that if BIGBANG can hold tours with around 1 million attendees annually, operating profit in 2022 could approach the 60 billion KRW range. Lee forecasted, "BIGBANG's comeback is likely to occur within the first half of next year."

Based on this analysis, Hana Financial Investment maintained its investment opinion as 'Buy' and raised the target stock price from 60,000 KRW to 64,000 KRW.

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