"Almost 1 Trillion in Sales"... SM's Revenue Reaches 960 Billion Last Year

Sales of 960 billion KRW, Operating Profit of 115.4 billion KRW
Increased by 13% and 27% YoY respectively

SM Entertainment announced on the 7th that it recorded consolidated sales of 960 billion KRW and operating profit of 115.4 billion KRW last year. Both sales and operating profit increased by 13% and 27%, respectively, compared to the previous year. Net profit for the period rose by 41.2% year-on-year to 115.8 billion KRW.

In the fourth quarter of last year, consolidated sales were 250 billion KRW and operating profit was 10.9 billion KRW, down 3.4% and 51.7% respectively compared to the same period last year.

Sales from advertising and content-related affiliates declined, and operating profit decreased due to the impact of the new inclusion of SM Brand Marketing. On a separate basis, fourth-quarter sales increased by 7.2% year-on-year to 163.7 billion KRW, while operating profit decreased by 13.8% to 20.6 billion KRW.

However, SM explained that it performed well for the full year thanks to strong sales of newly released albums and an expanded offline concert lineup by artists. The number of album and digital music releases last year was 64, up 12% from the previous year, and new album sales reached a record high of 20.1 million copies, a 67% increase year-on-year. The company held 340 concerts, a 224% increase compared to the previous year.

Last year, NCT DREAM's third full-length album 'ISTJ' became a quadruple million-seller (surpassing 4 million copies), and aespa's third mini-album 'MY WORLD' achieved double million-seller status (surpassing 2 million copies). EXO, NCT, NCT 127, and RIIZE also achieved million-seller status. NCT DREAM successfully held 41 performances across 26 regions worldwide, including North America, South America, Europe, and Asia, while aespa held 31 performances in 21 regions worldwide, including North America, Europe, and Asia, marking active world tours by the affiliated artists.

This year, SM will showcase a diverse artist lineup. Starting with RIIZE's single ‘Love 119’ released last month, activities by key artists will continue with the debut of the new boy group NCT WISH in February with singles in Korea and Japan, and the release of NCT DREAM's mini-album in March. Based on this, SM plans to achieve consolidated sales of 1.18 trillion KRW and operating profit of 160 billion KRW this year.

In particular, SM will also implement a shareholder return policy. At a board meeting held on the same day, SM announced that it decided to pay dividends totaling approximately 28.1 billion KRW and to retire 241,379 treasury shares (worth approximately 14.95 billion KRW) to enhance shareholder value based on the 2023 fiscal year results. This is the first treasury share retirement since the company's founding. The cash dividend is 1,200 KRW per common share, with a dividend payout ratio of 34%.

Jang Cheol-hyuk, CEO of SM, said, “Considering securing investment resources, we decided to maintain dividends at the same level as the previous year,” and added, “We will continue to enhance corporate value through shareholder value improvement by retiring treasury shares.”

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