S. Korean firms increase stock buyback by 70% in 2024
The total value of treasury shares bought back by major listed companies in South Korea jumped more than 70 percent in 2024 from a year earlier as the firms sought to enhance corporate value, a corporate tracker said Wednesday.
South Korean companies repurchased 14.3 trillion won ($9.8 billion) worth of treasury shares last year, marking a 72.8 percent increase from 8.2 trillion won a year earlier, according to CEO Score.
Their cancellation of treasury shares was valued at 12.1 trillion won, up 156 percent from the previous year's 4.7 trillion won.
Stock buybacks and cancellations normally benefit investors as the practices reduce the number of shares being circulated in the market, thereby increasing earnings per share and potentially boosting stock prices.
South Korean financial authorities have encouraged local companies to adopt value-up programs to strengthen their corporate value and market appeal.
Korea Zinc Co. posted the largest retirement of treasury shares with 2.1 trillion won amid an ongoing management battle with its largest shareholder, Young Poong Corp.
Samsung Electronics Co. closely came in next with a 2 trillion-won buyback as part of a broader 10 trillion-won share repurchase plan announced in November to deal with declining stock prices.
In terms of stock disposal, Samsung C&T Corp. ranked first with 1 trillion won, followed by KT&G Corp. and SK Innovation Co. (Yonhap)
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Korea Herald
an hour ago
- Korea Herald
Deputy national security, AI advisers named
President Lee Jae-myung appointed three deputy national security advisers and a senior secretary for artificial intelligence ahead of his trip to Canada to attend the Group of Seven summit, his presidential chief of staff Kang Hoon-sik said Sunday. Of the nominees filling the three deputy national security adviser posts under national security adviser Wi Sung-lac, two of them are career diplomats, according to Kang. Kim Hyun-jong, a retired three-star Army general, was selected as Lee's first deputy director of the presidential National Security Office, who will be dedicated to national defense and security strategies. Kim worked as a presidential secretary tasked with national defense reform and an aide to the chief of the Ground Operations Command under the Moon Jae-in government. Lim Woong-soon, South Korea's ambassador to Canada, was picked as the second deputy director of the NSO to handle matters related to South Korea's foreign affairs, overseas Koreans and unification policy. Kang said Lim is in Canada for onsite preparations ahead of Lee's visit. Oh Hyun-joo, South Korean ambassador to the Holy See, was named the NSO's third deputy director to oversee economic security and cybersecurity. Lee also named Ha Jung-woo, head of internet giant Naver's Future AI Center, as the new senior presidential secretary tasked with AI and future technology planning. Ha's work will involve policy related to nationwide adoption of AI, science and technology, population planning and climate change. Kang's announcement means most posts are now filled, but leaves the senior presidential secretaries for civil affairs and civil and social agenda not yet chosen as of Sunday. The civil affairs post is unoccupied as nominee Oh Kwang-soo stepped down last week amid growing controversies over his failed asset disclosures in his past mandatory filings as a senior prosecutor. None of the nominees would join the South Korean delegation led by Lee on a short trip to Canada from Monday to Wednesday, according to the presidential office. Also, according to Seoul, more personnel nominations for the Cabinet will be unveiled shortly after Lee's return to Seoul.
Korea Herald
9 hours ago
- Korea Herald
Japanese Embassy in Seoul to host reception Monday marking 60th anniv. of diplomatic ties
The Japanese Embassy in Seoul will host a reception this week to commemorate the 60th anniversary of diplomatic relations between South Korea and Japan, diplomatic sources said Sunday. The event, scheduled to take place at a hotel in Seoul on Monday, is expected to be attended by Second Vice Foreign Minister Kim Jina and Akihisa Nakashima, a close aide to Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, according to the sources. President Lee Jae-myung is unlikely to attend the ceremony in person due to a scheduling conflict, as he is set to travel to Canada for the Group of Seven (G7) summit. "(Lee) is reviewing the possibility of sending a congratulatory message," a presidential official said on condition of anonymity. "The message will be positive, highlighting the significance of the 60th anniversary and presenting a vision for future cooperation between South Korea and Japan." A similar event is also scheduled to be held by the South Korean Embassy in Tokyo on Thursday, with Ishiba "highly likely" to attend, other sources earlier said. The Tokyo reception will take place shortly after a planned bilateral meeting between Lee and Ishiba on the sidelines of the G7 summit, marking their first face-to-face talks. During their first phone conversation earlier, the two leaders reaffirmed their commitment to strengthening bilateral relations and agreed to address regional security challenges through trilateral cooperation with the United States. Separately, another diplomatic source noted that Nakashima's visit to South Korea is aimed more at engaging with lawmakers than solely attending the anniversary event.
Korea Herald
13 hours ago
- Korea Herald
Hopes rise for revival of inter-Korean projects
With the new liberal administration in power in South Korea, a sense of hope is brewing among businesses for the revival of suspended inter-Korean economic projects. The anticipation is prominent among several South Korean businesses that were forced to leave the inter-Korean Kaesong Industrial Complex nearly a decade ago. They now share a hope of returning to the shuttered joint economic zone in the North's border city to either resume their business or retrieve what they left behind, a CEO of a manufacturing company with a factory in Kaesong told The Korea Herald on Sunday. 'There is definitely anticipation building among those who left their businesses in Kaesong,' said Shin Han-yong, former chairman of the Kaesong Industrial Complex Business Association and CEO of Shinhan Trading, a fishing-gear company. 'We have been given a false sense of hope multiple times throughout the past decade — I sincerely hope this time, we will be able to continue our business or be able to retrieve what was left behind (in Kaesong),' he added. Shin's hope is based on Lee's latest pledges to swiftly restore suspended dialogue channels with the North as part of his goal to alleviate the escalating military tension between the two Koreas. The joint economic zone, which opened in 2003, has remained closed since February 2016. Seoul shuttered the complex in response to Pyongyang's fourth nuclear test and long-range rocket launch a month earlier. South Korean factory owners have been banned from returning to the joint complex ever since, and the inter-Korean relations have significantly deteriorated in recent years, with the cross-border dialogue channel now completely cut off. Of the 124 firms that were members of the business association, many suffered significant losses or were forced to shut down after failing to return to the zone in the past nine years, according to Shin. Many held over 80 percent of their means of production in the border city. 'I'm one of the luckier ones,' said Shin, who is currently the head of the Global Business Leader center at Inha University and operates another business. 'We were only able to receive one-third of our investments through government compensations and insurance payouts — it devastated many of us.' In 2016, Shinwon, a clothing manufacturer, announced an impairment loss of 25.7 billion ($18.7 million) a few months after being forced out of Kaesong. It then received a combined 19.3 billion won in compensation from the government and insurance payouts. Echoing Shin's sentiment, Kim Ki-moon, chair of the Korea Federation of Small and Medium Enterprises, said that 'several SMEs that had operated in Kaesong Industrial Complex have expressed hope that the inter-Korean economic cooperation would thrive again,' during a meeting between Lee and Korean business leaders on Friday. Kim was the chairman of Romanson, a local watch manufacturer, which has an abandoned factory in Kaesong. 'As one of the first businessmen who entered (Kaesong), I want things to work out,' he added. Inter-Korean business-related stocks surged after Lee ordered the suspension of loudspeaker broadcasts towards the North on Wednesday. The North, in response, halted its propaganda broadcasts near the border on Thursday. According to the Korea Exchange, shares of Hyundai Elevator, the largest shareholder of Hyundai Asan, which owns the rights to the Mount Kumkang tours, inched up 7.25 percent from the previous trading to 84,300 on Thursday. They fell 2.97 percent to 81,800 on Friday. Shares of Ananti jumped 26.7 percent to 9,870 won on Thursday from the previous session and closed higher at 10,600 won on Friday. The local luxury resort developer built a golf course and a hotel in the Mount Kumkang area in the 2000s. The South's tours to the Mount Kumkang area were halted in 2008, following an incident in which a North Korean soldier fatally shot a South Korean tourist. But observers pointed to signs of the North dismantling South Korea-built facilities in both the Kaesong complex and the Mount Kumgang area, and highlighted that the hurdles could be too high to revive certain suspended projects. Inter-Korean ties have historically experienced periods of thaw under the South's liberal governments following the 1950-53 Korean War, which resulted in the division of the country. A period of warming was highlighted globally, especially during the "sunshine policy" era under late liberal President Kim Dae-jung in the late '90s.
