Curly Achieves 1,200% Surge in Q1 Operating Profit... Highest Performance Since Founding

First-Quarter Operating Profit Reaches 24.2 Billion Won
13-Fold Increase Year-on-Year
Revenue Hits 745.7 Billion Won

Curly achieved its highest-ever quarterly performance in the first quarter of this year.

On May 11, Curly announced that its consolidated revenue for the first quarter of this year reached 745.7 billion won, a 28.4% increase compared to the same period last year. During the same period, operating profit soared by 1,277% year-on-year, reaching 24.2 billion won, which is 1.9 times higher than the company's full-year operating profit for last year. Net profit also turned positive, recording a surplus of 20.3 billion won.

During the same period, Gross Merchandise Value (GMV) also reached an all-time high of 1.0891 trillion won, representing a 29% year-on-year increase. This growth rate is three times higher than the 9.7% online shopping transaction growth rate (based on GMV) in Korea for the first quarter, as recently disclosed by the Ministry of Data and Statistics.

Curly CI. Curly

The company attributed its outstanding results to robust growth in its core businesses—fresh products and beauty—as well as successful business diversification in areas such as third-party seller shipping (3P), fulfillment services (FBK), and Curly N Mart.

In the food category, first-quarter GMV increased by 27.8% year-on-year. Beauty Curly also grew by 20.2%, driven by strong sales of luxury beauty products and the rise of indie brands. Seller-shipped products, including fulfillment services, rose by 52.6%, leading to further performance improvements. Differentiated strategies for fashion and living products, along with enhanced competitiveness in logistics services, also contributed to growth.

Curly N Mart also continued to grow, driving overall performance. In March, Curly N Mart's GMV was about nine times higher than in September of last year. On May 6, Curly completed a third-party paid-in capital increase on Naver, resulting in a recognized corporate value of 2.8 trillion won. Naver, as a strategic investor, is set to acquire all of Curly's new shares issued in this round for 33 billion won.

Curly evaluated that the launch of the midnight Same Day Delivery service in February this year, along with the advanced operation of its logistics centers in Gimpo, Pyeongtaek, and Changwon over the past several years, had a positive impact on profitability. The introduction of the midnight Same Day Delivery service, which allows customers to receive orders placed before 3:00 p.m. by midnight the same day, significantly improved logistics efficiency.

The company also achieved tangible results in cost efficiency. The gross margin for the first quarter was 33.1%, up 0.8 percentage points from the same period last year. Negotiating power with partners was strengthened, and expansion of the 3P business strategy also had a positive effect. The ratio of selling, general, and administrative expenses was reduced by 2.2 percentage points, contributing to cost improvement.

Kim Jonghun, Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of Curly, stated, "Through consistent efforts in products, logistics, and technology, we have differentiated the customer experience. Our attempts to diversify our business as a means to secure new growth engines have begun to yield results from the first quarter of this year." He added, "Having established a clear business model required of a differentiated technology platform company, we have demonstrated both growth and profitability. We plan to further elaborate and accelerate our IPO roadmap."

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