by Ryu Hyunseok
Published 13 Nov.2020 14:30(KST)
[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunseok Yoo] Lifestyle platform company Min&Ji announced on the 13th that it achieved its highest-ever performance with consolidated financial statements showing Q3 2020 sales of 45.7 billion KRW, operating profit of 8.6 billion KRW, and net profit of 7.1 billion KRW. These figures represent increases of 45.1%, 30.9%, and 9.7% respectively compared to the same period last year.
Based on separate financial statements, Min&Ji also recorded Q3 sales of 15.7 billion KRW, operating profit of 5.1 billion KRW, and net profit of 4.4 billion KRW.
The strong performance is attributed not only to the steady growth of Min&Ji’s own business but also to the explosive external growth of its consolidated subsidiaries, including fintech company SettleBank and probiotics specialist BioEleven. The simple combined sales of Min&Ji, SettleBank, and BioEleven for Q3 this year reached 45.6 billion KRW, with operating profit of 10.3 billion KRW, marking the best results in the history of all three companies.
Min&Ji’s consolidated subsidiary SettleBank posted Q3 2020 sales of 20.1 billion KRW, operating profit of 3.3 billion KRW, and net profit of 3.2 billion KRW based on separate financial statements. These represent increases of 5.5%, 43%, and 23% respectively compared to the previous quarter, and 20.6%, 9.2%, and 20.4% compared to the same period last year.
This year, SettleBank achieved a significant 43% year-over-year increase in sales in the single service segment of simple cash payments through aggressive expansion of affiliated merchants. Currently, SettleBank is also pursuing partnerships with major global pay companies.
Additionally, SettleBank focused its capabilities on the public sector PG field, which saw a surge in non-face-to-face payments this year, resulting in meaningful sales achievements. Furthermore, SettleBank is preparing the next-generation virtual account payment system ‘010 Virtual Account’ service, which greatly enhances customer convenience through a partnership with K-Bank.
This year, BioEleven also significantly drove Min&Ji’s performance. Acquired as a major subsidiary in April, BioEleven posted Q3 2020 sales of 9.8 billion KRW, operating profit of 1.9 billion KRW, and net profit of 1.7 billion KRW based on separate financial statements, showing a sharp growth with increases of 60.0%, 38.1%, and 92.0% respectively compared to the same period last year.
BioEleven’s high-dose probiotics brand ‘Deoshimone,’ which is the first and only product in Korea to receive individual recognition from the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety related to ‘gut immunity,’ continued its growth trend. Sales increased this year as public interest in immunity rose due to the spread of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19).
Recently, Deoshimone entered the Chinese market by launching on Alibaba Tmall, China’s largest e-commerce platform, opening overseas sales channels. It is expected to achieve meaningful sales during Alibaba’s Singles’ Day period. Additionally, BioEleven is accelerating its new drug development business through its corporate research institute, recently signing a contract with Samsung Biologics for contract development and manufacturing (CDO) of the immuno-oncology drug ‘BN-101A.’
Meanwhile, Min&Ji submitted a preliminary application for the Financial Services Commission’s personal credit information management business (MyData) license in August and was selected as one of the final 35 candidate companies, demonstrating its active commitment to the MyData business and planning to pursue performance growth next year as well.
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