[Click e-Stock] "HectoFinancial, Full-Scale Expansion of New Business This Year"

KB Securities analyzed on the 12th that Hecto Financial is expected to see full-scale expansion of new businesses this year. No investment opinion or target price was provided.

Hecto Financial recorded sales of 159.3 billion KRW and operating profit of 13.3 billion KRW last year, representing increases of 4.1% and 5.7% respectively compared to the previous year. Hyunkyum Kim, a researcher at KB Securities, stated, "The decline in sales due to the departure of major PG companies was offset by growth in mobile payment and overseas service businesses," and added, "The company is focusing on securing a leading position in the new prepaid agency service market through the revised Electronic Financial Transactions Act enacted in September last year." He further noted, "On the cost side, slight growth was achieved by offsetting increases in labor costs and payment fees with a reduction in advertising expenses."

KB Securities evaluated this year as a period when new businesses will blossom. He said, "The overseas service business is expanding its business scope from settlement with major e-commerce platforms to payment services," and added, "The goal is to launch a small-amount overseas remittance function by 2025."

He analyzed, "The number of overseas service merchants is expected to increase from 6 in 2023 to 25 this year, and related gross profit is projected to expand from 440 million KRW to 5.1 billion KRW during the same period," and "The prepaid agency service business is making efforts to secure the market targeting F&B franchises and companies issuing e-coupons (such as Gifticons, game money, points, etc.)."

Along with this, expectations for growth in the Naetongjang payment service are also high. He emphasized, "Hecto Financial’s payment service, Naetongjang payment, is a highly profitable business with a gross profit margin in the mid-70% range," and "As of last year, the number of subscribers was 10.586 million, and it is expected to grow into a powerful platform as the payment PG business expands."

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