Woori Financial Group Reports 98% Increase in Net Profit Last Year to 2.5879 Trillion KRW... 900 KRW Dividend per Share

[Asia Economy Reporter Song Seung-seop] Woori Financial Group recorded a nearly 100% increase in net profit compared to the previous year. This was due to strengthening its non-bank portfolio and managing sales and expense control costs. The dividend level recovered to the pre-COVID-19 level, setting a record high of 900 KRW per share.

According to Woori Financial's performance announcement on the 9th, the annual net profit for last year, including 390 billion KRW in net profit for the fourth quarter, was 2.5879 trillion KRW. This represents a 98.0% increase from 1.3073 trillion KRW the previous year, marking an all-time high.

The net operating income, combining interest income and non-interest income, was 8.344 trillion KRW, up 22.3% year-on-year. Of this, interest income was 6.9857 trillion KRW. The revenue structure improved due to efforts to increase loans focused on small and medium-sized enterprises and low-cost deposits, resulting in a 16.5% increase compared to the previous year. Non-interest income expanded by 65.2% to 1.3583 trillion KRW from a year earlier. Woori Financial explained that this was influenced by strong business operations and a turnaround in core fee income.

Asset soundness was maintained at historically low levels, with the non-performing loan (NPL) ratio and delinquency rate at 0.30% and 0.21%, respectively, reflecting a risk-focused approach when handling credit. The high-quality asset ratio and NPL coverage ratio were also at healthy levels of 89.4% and 192.2%, respectively.

The group's sales and administrative expense ratio improved to 47.5%, down 7.5 percentage points from 55.0% the previous year, due to company-wide cost efficiency policies.

Dividends were restored to above pre-COVID-19 levels following strong performance, with a record high dividend of 900 KRW per share announced, including an interim dividend of 150 KRW.

By subsidiary, Woori Bank achieved a net profit of 2.3755 trillion KRW. Woori Card posted 200.7 billion KRW, Woori Financial Capital 140.6 billion KRW, and Woori Comprehensive Financial 79.9 billion KRW.

Attending the earnings conference call, Sohn Tae-seung, Chairman of Woori Financial Group, stated, “Based on the growth momentum created by full privatization last year, we will actively strive for a new leap forward, including expanding our business portfolio,” adding, “We have set a mid- to long-term roadmap to become a digitally strong global leading financial group.”

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