Cheil Worldwide, Operating Profit of 307.5 Billion KRW Last Year... 1.25% Decrease YoY

Gross Profit of 1.6 Trillion Won... 5% Increase Year-on-Year
Minimizing External Uncertainties This Year... Discovering New Digital Businesses

Cheil Worldwide announced on the 30th that its consolidated operating profit for last year was tentatively estimated at 307.523 billion KRW, down 1.25% from the previous year.

During the same period, sales recorded 4.1382 trillion KRW, a decrease of 2.71%. Last year’s gross profit was 1.6189 trillion KRW, an increase of 5% compared to the previous year. Gross profit is the amount remaining after deducting the cost of sales from sales. Net profit for the period fell 2.92% year-on-year to 190.122 billion KRW.

Cheil Worldwide CI. [Image provided by Cheil Worldwide]

On a quarterly basis, last year’s fourth-quarter gross profit and operating profit were 429.2 billion KRW and 75.985 billion KRW, respectively. These figures represent increases of 4% and 5.84% compared to the same period last year.

Cheil Worldwide explained that digital business and overseas non-affiliated business expanded last year, resulting in external growth. In particular, business in North America, China, and Latin America showed growth, leading to a 7% increase in gross profit of consolidated subsidiaries.

The proportion of digital business stood at 54%, up 1 percentage point from the previous year. This was due to the expansion of digital businesses such as dot-com and e-commerce, along with diversification in digital service areas. The share of traditional advertising (Above The Line·ATL) in the business decreased by 1 percentage point to 17% compared to the previous year.

Performance of non-affiliated advertisers increased by 14% year-on-year. This was attributed to the development of new advertisers centered on subsidiaries in North America and China. The business share expanded to 30%.

Cheil Worldwide’s strategy for this year is to minimize the impact of external uncertainties. At the same time, it plans to strengthen the business foundation for sustainable growth. Specifically, it will expand digital and non-affiliated businesses. To this end, it will advance core services such as dot-com. In the non-affiliated sector, it plans to expand the existing advertiser agency area while developing new advertisers mainly in North America and China.

It will also work on defending performance through sound management. While promoting efficiency in selling and administrative expenses such as costs, it will enhance risk management capabilities through organizational restructuring. It plans to review investments such as mergers and acquisitions (M&A) and also explore new digital businesses like artificial intelligence (AI). Through this, it aims to strengthen its core business.

Meanwhile, Cheil Worldwide decided on the same day to pay a cash dividend of 1,110 KRW per share. The dividend yield is 5.5%, with a total dividend amount of approximately 112.4 billion KRW. The dividend payout ratio was maintained at 60%.

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