Hanwha Aerospace, South Korea's largest defense company, sees stock drop 6% due to lower-than-expected revenue and pre-tax profits

On Tuesday, shares of Hanwha Aerospace, South Korea's largest defense company, plunged over 6% after the company reported lower-than-expected fourth-quarter revenue and pre-tax profit on Monday.

Fourth-quarter revenue rose 72.56% year-over-year to 8.33 trillion won, but fell short of the LSEG forecast of 8.64 trillion won.

Pre-tax profit plummeted 72% to 602 billion won, well below the market expectation of 1.2 trillion won; operating profit fell 16% to 753 billion won.

Net profit was one of the few bright spots: although it declined 54% year-over-year, it still reached 934 billion won, exceeding the LSEG forecast of 717.2 billion won.

Annual Performance

Annual revenue soared 137% year-over-year to 26.61 trillion won, but slightly missed the expected 27.01 trillion won.

Pre-tax profit edged down to 2.15 trillion won, a 19% year-over-year decline, and was below the expected 2.73 trillion won.

Hanwha achieved record operating profit for the fourth consecutive year, and net profit also exceeded expectations:

Operating profit increased 75% year-over-year to 3.03 trillion won.

Net profit fell 16% year-over-year to 2.14 trillion won, higher than the expected 1.65 trillion won.

Stock Performance

So far this year, Hanwha's share price has risen by 18.92%.

Hanwha is the 11th largest stock by market capitalization on the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (Kospi), with a market value of approximately $42.03 billion.

Since the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, demand for Hanwha's defense equipment has continued to grow, with the company receiving orders from multiple European countries. Since 2022, Hanwha has exported K9 "Thunder" self-propelled howitzers and "Chunmoo" multiple rocket launcher systems to Poland, Estonia, Romania, and Norway.

Editor: Li Zhaofu