SK Networks Reports 11.0181 Trillion KRW in Sales and 121.9 Billion KRW Operating Profit Last Year

[Asia Economy Reporter Kiho Sung] SK Networks announced on the 10th through a preliminary earnings disclosure that its consolidated sales for the fourth quarter of last year reached 2.9067 trillion KRW (a 5.4% increase compared to the same period last year), and operating profit was 21.2 billion KRW (a 144.4% increase compared to the same period last year). Accordingly, the cumulative annual sales amounted to 11.0181 trillion KRW, with an operating profit of 121.9 billion KRW. Compared to 2020, sales increased by 3.7%, and despite ongoing losses in the hotel business due to COVID-19, operating profit was maintained at the previous year's level (a 1.7% decrease compared to the previous year).

In the fourth quarter, revenue from the information and communication business increased due to the launch of new iPhone devices, and the ICT recycling subsidiary ‘Mintit’ achieved an annual used phone transaction volume of 1 million units. SK Magic entered the world’s largest e-commerce platform, Amazon, and rental cumulative accounts reached 2.21 million. SK Rent-a-Car saw strong performance in the short-term rental business in Jeju Island and benefited from rising used car sales prices, while tire sales through Speedmate and TirePick also increased. However, despite active marketing activities such as advertising campaigns and pop-up store openings to expand customer awareness of ‘SK Rent-a-Car Direct,’ an online-exclusive long-term rental quotation and contract service launched by SK Rent-a-Car, profits decreased compared to the same period last year.

Summarizing the 2021 performance, it was a year in which the company led growth by introducing new products and services in the mobility (SK Rent-a-Car, etc.) and home care (SK Magic) sectors. SK Rent-a-Car is strengthening its electric vehicle rental base by creating the largest electric vehicle exclusive complex in Korea on Jeju Island and has also focused on building an untact-centered online market through ‘SK Rent-a-Car Direct.’ Additionally, after conducting a pilot service of ‘SK Rent-a-Car TagoPay,’ which calculates fees based on vehicle mileage, it was officially launched as a product this year. Speedmate has increased customer satisfaction by launching the vehicle management membership ‘CLUB SM,’ and ‘Cartini’ (brand name: TirePick), which spun off in October last year, is also pursuing growth as an online platform operator.

Last fall, SK Magic unveiled its eco-friendly home appliance lineup ‘Green Collection’ and introduced the ‘All Clean Air Purifier Green242’ model, which fully applies eco-friendly plastics. Since launching the ‘Special Rental Service’ in collaboration with Samsung Electronics last year, SK Magic has been expanding its service areas to various home appliances, including those for living environments. As a result, SK Magic succeeded in achieving sales of 1 trillion KRW for two consecutive years.

Walkerhill inevitably faced impacts such as reduced operating hours for rooms and food and beverage outlets due to COVID-19, but it reduced the scale of losses by launching package products aligned with trends and introducing various hotel PB products such as the ‘Print Bakery Walkerhill Flagship Store’ and ‘Walkerhill Hotel Picnic Eco Bag.’ It also accelerated ESG management by declaring a ‘transition to an eco-friendly hotel.’

SK Networks plans to actively pursue discovering growth momentum and expanding business opportunities from a mid- to long-term perspective to fully transition into a ‘business-type investment company’ while ensuring stable performance from its existing businesses this year. In particular, it intends to nurture global areas and blockchain-related specialized investment and business development as key future growth businesses. To this end, through the regular organizational restructuring at the end of last year, it established a Blockchain Business Division in addition to the Global Investment Center and has been actively investing in and cooperating with startups with high growth potential. This year, it has continued investments in digital healthcare company ‘Elvis,’ eco-friendly material company ‘MycoWorks,’ and electric vehicle charging company ‘Everon,’ and recently signed an MOU with blockchain specialized investment firm ‘Hashed’ to strengthen business cooperation. These efforts aim to build a virtuous cycle investment process where investment business value increases, profits are generated, and reinvestment continues. Additionally, it plans to further enhance ESG management levels that consider society and the environment together.

Through this, SK Networks aims not only to enhance its financial story execution capability and increase corporate value but also to continuously evolve as a company that meets the expectations of investors and other stakeholders.

An SK Networks official emphasized, “As a business-type investment company, we will flexibly respond to changes in the management environment and secure a highly competitive investment portfolio to create performance and growth throughout the year.”

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