"Payco Has Grown Well" NHN Reports 27.4 Billion KRW Operating Profit in 3Q, Up 24.5% YoY (Comprehensive)

Jung Woo-jin, CEO of NHN

[Asia Economy Reporter Buaeri] NHN succeeded in a 'solid' performance in the third quarter, powered by the growth of Payco.

NHN announced on the 13th that it recorded sales of 419.4 billion KRW and operating profit of 27.4 billion KRW in the third quarter.

This represents an increase of 19.2% and 24.5%, respectively, compared to the previous year.

NHN's strong performance was driven by its payment and commerce businesses. The expansion of the non-face-to-face (untact) market due to the impact of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) led to business growth.

Payment and advertising sales rose 37.9% year-on-year to 168.9 billion KRW. The sales growth of NHN Payco, including Payco Order and Payco Coupon, as well as the increase in online PG (electronic payment gateway) and overseas merchant payments by NHN Korea Cyber Payment, contributed to the sales increase.

In particular, Payco's transaction volume in the third quarter increased by 20% compared to the same period last year. Offline payment volume more than doubled year-on-year, expanding its share to 14% of total payments. For Payco Order, the number of contracted merchants expanded from 27,000 in the second quarter to 60,000 in the third quarter, and the number of orders increased by 85% compared to the previous quarter. The plan is to secure 200,000 merchants within two years.

Jung Woo-jin, CEO of NHN, said, "While focusing on expanding various payment services such as Payco Order, public delivery apps, and meal tickets, we are also continuing to expand new services such as electronic documents," adding, "We will continue steady growth in the fourth quarter as well."

The commerce sector recorded 73.9 billion KRW, a 41.5% increase year-on-year, supported by strong B2B sales of NHN Acommate, which operates China-based business, increased demand from online channels of NHN Global, and continuous growth in transaction volume of major merchants of NHN Godo.

In the content sector, stable webtoon sales of NHN Comico and increased music distribution sales of Bugs resulted in 42.5 billion KRW. Game sales reached 100.4 billion KRW, a 1.7% increase compared to the previous year. In the technology sector, sales rose 22.9% year-on-year to 39.2 billion KRW due to increased cloud demand from public institutions and growth in customers of the collaboration platform 'NHN Doorey.'

CEO Jung stated, "In the unprecedented situation where COVID-19 continues, we focused on quick responses to external environments and seeking new opportunities, which led to remarkable achievements in the payment and commerce businesses," and added, "As a comprehensive IT company, we will actively review and implement necessary internal and external changes to ensure balanced growth across all business sectors."

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