KT&G Surpasses 5 Trillion KRW in Consolidated Sales Last Year... Record-Breaking Performance

Growth in Overseas Sector... Expansion of Distribution Networks of Overseas Corporations Including the US
Increase in Domestic Cigarette Sales as Well

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Hye-seon] KT&G has surpassed 5 trillion KRW in consolidated sales for the first time since its founding.

On the 4th, KT&G announced at a corporate briefing that its consolidated sales and operating profit for last year reached 5.3016 trillion KRW and 1.4824 trillion KRW respectively, setting a record high performance.

The performance was driven by the overseas sector. Early last year, KT&G announced a large-scale export contract worth approximately 2.2 trillion KRW over seven years with a Middle Eastern tobacco importer. Based on this, overseas sales volume increased due to the expansion of distribution networks of overseas subsidiaries including in the U.S. Last year, exports of electronic cigarettes to Russia, Japan, and other countries through PMI (Post-Merger Integration) also contributed to global sales growth.

In particular, despite the difficult situation caused by the spread of COVID-19 last year, KT&G newly entered 23 countries, bringing the total number of countries entered to 103. Among the newly entered countries, KT&G focused on nurturing markets with high growth potential, achieving the remarkable feat of securing five countries including Cameroon, Israel, and Guatemala, each with annual sales exceeding 100 million sticks.

In the domestic cigarette segment, sales volume increased compared to the previous year despite the contraction of duty-free markets and others. KT&G’s annual domestic cigarette sales volume grew by 2.5% to 41.6 billion sticks. Its market share recorded 64.0%, firmly maintaining its position as the ‘No.1’ in the domestic cigarette market.

The electronic cigarette business segment also continued to grow. The cumulative sales of the domestic ‘Lil’ devices surpassed 3 million units, and the market share of electronic cigarette sticks reached 34.3%. KT&G consistently defended the market by launching differentiated products such as ‘Lil Solid 2.0’ and ‘Lil Hybrid 2.0’ last year.

The real estate sector also recorded sales of 654.6 billion KRW last year, growing approximately 56% compared to the previous year, supported by development projects in Suwon.

Meanwhile, KT&G announced through its earnings release that it plans to increase the dividend per share from 4,400 KRW last year to 4,800 KRW as a shareholder return measure. This represents a 9.1% increase compared to the previous year.

Baek Bok-in, CEO of KT&G, stated, "Despite increased uncertainty due to COVID-19, we achieved record-high sales and profits through continuous growth in overseas tobacco and real estate businesses and successful defense of the domestic market," adding, "We will strengthen our status as a global company by enhancing business competitiveness."

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