[Click eStock] "Hana Tour Faces Headwinds from Prolonged COVID-19... Continued Losses in Q4"

[Asia Economy Reporter Oh Ju-yeon] Ebest Investment & Securities forecasted that unless the number of outbound travelers recovers from the impact of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19), the sharp decline in the number of customers sent by Hana Tour will continue, and this year's performance will drop at the largest rate since its establishment.

According to Ebest Investment & Securities on the 24th, Hana Tour's consolidated sales this year are expected to be 332.7 billion KRW, a 56% decrease compared to the previous year, and an operating loss of 15 billion KRW is anticipated. This is described as the largest loss since its founding.

Researcher An Jin-ah stated, "As of the third quarter, the total number of outbound travelers for Hana Tour was 703,000, a sharp decline of 86.5% compared to the same period last year, and tour tourists decreased by 91.2% year-on-year," adding, "Although this is an unavoidable situation due to COVID-19, the sharp decline in the number of customers sent will continue unless the number of outbound travelers recovers."

Researcher An added, "We initially estimated that profit level recovery would begin from the third quarter of 2021, but with the second wave of COVID-19 and delays in vaccine and treatment development prolonging the pandemic, even this has become uncertain," and diagnosed, "As COVID-19 prolongs, deferred demand for overseas travel will increase, and benefits are expected to concentrate on surviving travel companies."

Hana Tour has extended the unpaid leave period by four months until March 2021, with all 2,300 employees except for 300 essential personnel currently on unpaid leave. The government’s employment retention subsidy, which was applied until October, has ended, leading to the extension of unpaid leave.

Researcher An said, "With delays in vaccine and treatment development and domestic self-quarantine regulations expected to continue until the first half of 2021, Hana Tour's available liquidity is around 200 billion KRW," adding, "In a situation with no sales, the average quarterly expenses are about 50 billion KRW, so if cost reductions are maintained with the secured liquidity, it is expected to endure for up to one year."

Accordingly, the investment opinion 'Hold' and the target stock price of 45,000 KRW were maintained.

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