Lotte Tour Development's Short Selling Balance Enters 8% Range for the First Time

Lotte Tour Development's short selling balance has entered the 8% range for the first time.

According to the Korea Exchange on the 11th, as of the 6th, Lotte Tour Development's short selling volume recorded 6.48 million shares (8.79%). Among the short selling balance ratio, the general short selling volume, which targets a stock price decline, recorded 2.55% (1.88 million shares).

Lotte Tour Development explained, "Even the short selling balance ranking significantly drops to 25th place when only the general short selling volume is applied, so Lotte Tour Development is no longer a short selling interest stock."

Previously, Lotte Tour Development stated that the remaining 4.6 million shares (6.24%), excluding the general short selling volume, were nominally included in the short selling volume as they were lent and borrowed by overseas investors for hedging purposes when issuing overseas convertible bonds (CB) in the past.

They added that overseas CBs are fundamentally investments that profit when the stock price rises, so the special volume is entirely different in nature from the general volume that hopes for a stock price decline.

In September 2019, overseas investors purchased 5.1 million shares of overseas convertible bonds from Lotte Tour Development, and among these, 4.6 million shares were lent and borrowed from Donghwa Investment Development, an affiliate of Lotte Tour Development, temporarily selling them in the market using a so-called 'Delta Placement' trading method.

The steady decrease in Lotte Tour Development's general short selling volume is analyzed to be due to a clear performance turnaround pattern following the expansion of direct overseas flight routes.

In June, Lotte Tour Development's Dream Tower Casino recorded net sales of 10.299 billion KRW, marking a profit for three consecutive months and setting a record for the highest number of visitors, while the hotel also recorded 11.247 billion KRW, the highest this year, showing simultaneous performance progress in both casino and hotel sectors.

In fact, in July, the Beijing route was increased to 7 flights per week, and routes to Hong Kong and Macau were added, with a direct flight route to Dalian opening in August, forecasting a significant expansion of direct overseas flights to 155 flights per week.

In this regard, Kiwoom Securities issued a report on the 3rd stating, "The effect of expanding international flight connections at Jeju International Airport is becoming prominent, and the increase in foreigner hotel occupancy rates is naturally leading to improved casino traffic," while maintaining a target stock price of 23,500 KRW.

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