SK Square, 3Q Revenue 40.5 Billion KRW... Operating Loss 560.7 Billion KRW

SK Square announced on the 15th that it recorded sales of 40.5 billion KRW, an operating loss of 560.7 billion KRW, and a net profit of 447.4 billion KRW based on its consolidated financial statements for the third quarter of 2023.

Sales decreased by 94.9% compared to the same period last year, and operating profit turned to a loss. As an investment-specialized company, SK Square's consolidated performance is influenced by its portfolio companies. This quarter showed a gradual recovery as the equity-method valuation loss of SK Hynix decreased. SK Square reflects SK Hynix's net income proportionally to its shareholding as consolidated sales.

The SK Square entity itself strengthened its foundation for future investments by generating meaningful cash flow in this third quarter. First, a total of 540.3 billion KRW in cash inflows was secured through ▲ SK Hynix’s quarterly dividend (43.8 billion KRW) ▲ sale of SK Shieldus shares (410 billion KRW) ▲ sale of NanoEnTek (51.5 billion KRW) ▲ sale of SK Planet shares (35 billion KRW). Additionally, it secured an additional 450 billion KRW in cash inflows over the next two years as the remaining payment from the SK Shieldus share sale.

SK Square stated that from the second half of this year, it is steadily realizing the results of portfolio value-up and rebalancing. In October, it attracted an investment of 20 billion KRW from global game company Krafton to enhance the value of portfolio company One Store, and plans to sequentially disclose the results of portfolio rebalancing within the year.

SK Square is focusing on incorporating semiconductor portfolios with high synergy with SK Hynix to increase corporate value in the mid to long term. Accordingly, it is jointly investing 100 billion KRW with SK Hynix, Shinhan Financial Group, and LIG Nex1 to promote investments in semiconductor materials, parts, and equipment companies.

Meanwhile, SK Square has been conducting a treasury stock buyback worth a total of 200 billion KRW since August to enhance shareholder value. As of November 13, the progress rate is 52.6%. This is the second treasury stock buyback this year, and the 106.3 billion KRW worth of treasury stocks purchased earlier this year were temporarily canceled in October.

Jung Jae-heon, Head of SK Square Investment Support Center, said, “We are concentrating resources on growing and reorganizing the current portfolio while incorporating new portfolios,” and added, “We will show shareholders our transformation into a solid investment-specialized company with a strong portfolio.”

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