Kenkou Aerospace Reports 54.6 Billion KRW in Sales Last Year... "Largest Since Establishment"

[Asia Economy Reporter Jang Hyowon] Kenko Aerospace achieved its highest sales since its founding last year.

Kenko Aerospace announced on the 17th that its consolidated sales last year reached 54.6 billion KRW, a 73% increase compared to the same period the previous year. Operating loss during the same period was 11.8 billion KRW.

The U.S. subsidiary has continuously achieved net profit to date, including the severe COVID-19 year of 2020, through business diversification in defense and space sectors. In particular, the space raw materials and launch vehicle sectors in the U.S. grew by more than 50% compared to the previous year, expanding their share of the group's sales.

Additionally, through investments and expanded partnerships with leading overseas space technology companies such as Space Forge (UK, space manufacturing) and Orbit Fab (USA, space refueling station), new technologies in the space sector were secured. Based on this, the company is expanding manufacturing business opportunities and is pushing to enter not only the global markets it has already entered but also the domestic space market.

Last year, the domestic headquarters' sales were notably driven by the passenger-to-freighter (P2F) conversion project worth approximately 400 billion KRW, ordered in 2020. This project entered full-scale mass production from the second quarter of 2021 after initial development was completed, leading to sales growth last year.

Last year included the completion of development and initial mass production of a large-scale freighter conversion project. The main causes of operating loss were high cost rates due to initial development expenses and recognition of impairment losses, which are non-cash outflows. Despite significant sales growth, the operating loss ratio relative to sales actually decreased compared to the previous year.

The results of investments in the space business sector last year are expected to become visible from this year, with additional performance growth anticipated. Delivery for the NASA Artemis project launch vehicle SLS (Space Launch System) No. 1, scheduled for launch in March-April, was completed last year, and additional projects have been secured.

Lee Min-kyu, CEO of Kenko Aerospace, said, “Despite the aviation industry suffering a major blow due to COVID-19, Kenko not only achieved a 78% sales growth in 2021 compared to the previous year through aggressive overseas orders and bold investments but also surpassed the pre-COVID 2019 sales of 46.3 billion KRW by reaching 54.6 billion KRW. While most companies in the industry were undergoing large-scale restructuring, we increased domestic employment from 245 to 341 employees, investing heavily in human resources for growth.”

He added, “Kenko was the first manufacturing company to be recognized for growth potential and was listed on the KOSDAQ market in March 2020 under Tesla requirements. Rather than focusing on immediate small profits, we are concentrating on rapid sales growth and securing new markets such as the space industry and UAM. This year, we aim for over 50% sales growth and are dedicating all capabilities to prepare for turning operating profit through achieving economies of scale.”

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