[Click eStock] "With Corona Alcohol Demand Recovery"... HiteJinro Target Price Up

[Asia Economy Reporter Ji Yeon-jin] NH Investment & Securities announced on the 17th that it has maintained a buy rating on HiteJinro, considering the expectations for the implementation of With Corona and the possibility of market share expansion, and raised the target price from 40,000 KRW to 42,000 KRW.

Mi-jin Jo, a researcher at NH Investment & Securities, stated, "Although volatility due to the COVID-19 situation and policy implementation still exists, this year, as gradual daily recovery progresses, alcoholic beverage demand is expected to gradually normalize," adding, "Since the proportion of sales to businesses is relatively high, performance is expected to recover quickly when the external environment improves."

HiteJinro's market share of Terra is high in key commercial districts within the metropolitan area, so a decline in beer market share was observed due to COVID-19, but in the opposite situation, an increase in market share is expected.

Researcher Jo said, "The dominant market share in the soju market and the rising trend of overseas sales proportion are also positive," adding, "Due to recent price increases of competing beer products, there is a possibility of changes in the company's pricing policy, and since an increase in the price of ethanol (7.6%) has also been announced, there is also an expectation of price increases for soju products."

This year, consolidated sales and operating profit are expected to increase by 5% and 17.1% year-on-year to 2.3129 trillion KRW and 203.8 billion KRW, respectively. Beer and soju sales are estimated to increase by 4.1% and 6.1%, respectively. Researcher Jo emphasized, "With gradual recovery to normal life and increased demand in the overall beer and soju markets, HiteJinro's performance is also expected to successfully rebound," adding, "Starting from the first quarter as the bottom, quarterly performance improvement trends are expected to continue."

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