[Click eStock] Emart, Next Year's Performance 'Sseuk Sseuk' Boosted by Starbucks Effect

[Asia Economy Reporter Ji Yeon-jin] KTB Investment & Securities stated on the 13th that even assuming that the operating loss of Emart's online mall SSG.COM will expand next year, the price-to-earnings ratio (PER) is 9.9 times, which is lower than the past 5-year average of 13.5 times, maintaining a buy investment opinion and a target price of 200,000 KRW.

Emart's annual earnings per share (EPS) for next year is expected to be 15,581 KRW, which is 9,400 KRW higher than this year excluding the gain from the sale of the Gayang branch. Expansion of Starbucks Korea's stake and improvement in subsidiary performance are expected. Next year's subsidiary operating profit is projected to increase by 353.5% year-on-year to 226.5 billion KRW, and Starbucks Korea's operating profit is expected to be 212.5 billion KRW. SSG.COM's operating loss is estimated to increase by 43.2 billion KRW year-on-year to 140.8 billion KRW. This reflects Emart24 turning profitable with an operating profit of 4.5 billion KRW.

Last year's Starbucks recharge amount was 180.1 billion KRW, with an annual growth rate of 38% over three years. This exceeds the sales growth rate of 15% during the same period. SSG.COM's paid membership using Starbucks is analyzed as a differentiating point from existing e-commerce paid memberships.

This year's third-quarter sales are expected to be 6.2 trillion KRW, with an operating profit of 154.2 billion KRW. It is expected that the marketing cost expansion trend of SSG.COM, which is preparing for listing, will be maintained, and the third-quarter operating loss is estimated at 29.9 billion KRW. Jinwoo Kim, a researcher at KTB Investment & Securities, said, "Due to the designation of sectors excluded from the use of the national support fund, Emart's separate sales last month are estimated to have decreased by 8% year-on-year to 1.3 trillion KRW," adding, "Since a significant portion of the national support fund is presumed to have been used up, we expect a performance rebound in October, and the impact of the win-win consumption support fund (cashback), which requires additional consumption, will not be significant."

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