The First Kosdaq Value-Up is FnGuide

2024 Corporate Value Enhancement Plan Announcement
Targeting 18% ROE Within 5 Years
Minimum Dividend Payout Ratio Set at 26%... Plans for Expansion

Financial information company FnGuide announced on the 31st, through a voluntary disclosure, the first-ever 'Corporate Value Enhancement (Value-Up) Plan' among KOSDAQ-listed companies.

FnGuide set a goal to achieve a return on equity (ROE) of 18% by 2028, five years from now, as part of its corporate value enhancement objectives. Annual sales are also targeted to reach 54.2 billion KRW in 2028, achieving an average annual growth rate of 15% compared to the 2024 target of 31 billion KRW.

The company plans to expand its dividend payout ratio as well, proposing a minimum payout ratio of 26%. This sets the dividend per share at 180 KRW and the payout ratio at 26% for the 2022?2023 period as the minimum level. The final confirmed plan will be announced at the corporate presentation in November this year. FnGuide will also continue to conduct treasury stock cancellations. On the 14th, the board of directors resolved a plan to cancel treasury shares worth 5.9 billion KRW, and the actual cancellation was carried out on the 29th. As a result, the total number of issued shares decreased from 12.08 million to 11.35 million shares.

Governance will also be improved. The 2025 goals include two key measures: separating the roles of the board chairman and CEO, and establishing policies to prevent the appointment of unqualified executives. These will be proposed as agenda items at the shareholders' meeting in the first half of this year. By 2028, four improvement tasks are planned: providing at least one annual training session for the internal audit body, establishing an independent internal audit department, ensuring the presence of accounting or finance experts within the internal audit body, and setting procedures that allow internal auditors access to important management-related information.

Before setting these goals, FnGuide conducted a current state analysis and stated, "Despite an increase in operating profit and an ROE exceeding the cost of capital, the price-to-earnings ratio (PER) and price-to-book ratio (PBR) have continuously declined," adding that "this is recognized as a result of past failures in growth strategy execution and lack of investor communication." Furthermore, they noted, "There is potential to grow ROE through asset efficiency improvements," and "non-operating assets constitute a high proportion."

Accordingly, four key challenges were identified: enhancing growth potential, strengthening investor communication, improving asset efficiency, and reinforcing shareholder return policies. In particular, the plan is to improve ROE by increasing total asset turnover and secure investment capacity for expanding new growth businesses. To this end, FnGuide will expand business-to-consumer (B2C) services and strengthen index capabilities. Business strategies to enhance growth, such as establishing a retirement pension division and expanding the use of artificial intelligence (AI), will also be pursued concurrently.

An FnGuide representative stated, “This plan has been considered even before the guideline was finalized and is regarded as a task to be carried out regardless of company size,” adding, “We will continuously inform the public of improvements and supplements such as business strategy advancement through disclosures and will steadily strive to enhance corporate value from a mid- to long-term perspective.”

Meanwhile, FnGuide previously announced these details at a corporate presentation held on the 22nd of this month.

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