HYBE Records Best Ever Performance as BTS’s Full-Group Return Fuels Growth Momentum

HYBE achieved its highest-ever financial results thanks to expanded global concerts and expectations surrounding BTS’s full-group return. Last year, the company reported consolidated annual sales of 2.6499 trillion won and operating profits of 49.9 billion won, marking an 18% increase in sales compared to the previous year. The driving force behind this growth was the strong performance in its global concert business. HYBE held a total of 279 global concerts last year, a 69% increase from the prior year, generating sales of 763.9 billion won. This success enabled the company to rank fourth globally on Billboard’s “Top Promoter” chart, placing it among the top four global concert promoters. Meanwhile, operating profits declined by approximately 73% compared to the previous year. The company attributed this to proactive investments for medium- to long-term growth and costs associated with restructuring its operations. In particular, reorganizing its business structure in North America into an IP-focused model resulted in impairment losses of around 200 billion won. However, these were accounting losses only, with no actual cash outflow, and the company expects improved profitability starting this year. The expansion of its global business model also yielded visible results. The global girl group KATSEYE, which made its debut last year, surpassed 36 million monthly Spotify listeners, demonstrating the success of HYBE’s global strategy. This year, the company aims to further improve performance with BTS resuming full-group activities. BTS will release its fifth studio album, “Arirang,” on the 20th of next month, followed by a world tour that begins in Korea on April 9th. The currently planned tour spans 82 concerts in 34 cities worldwide, the largest scale ever. The securities industry is paying close attention to the economic impact of BTS’s world tour. Ten out of 16 domestic securities firms have raised their target prices for HYBE, with some setting targets as high as 460,000 won per share. IBK Investment & Securities estimated that the total attendance for the world tour could exceed 5 million people. Based on an average ticket price of 280,000 won, average product sales per person of 140,000 won, and sponsorship factors, the total revenue from the tour could surpass 2 trillion won in sales and 400 billion won in operating profits. According to this year’s market forecasts, annual sales are projected to reach 4.035 trillion won, with operating profits estimated at 500.8 billion won. To enhance shareholder value, HYBE plans to introduce the first “minimum dividend guarantee system” among K-content companies over the next three years. It also intends to shift the basis for dividend distribution from net income to free cash flow (FCF) in order to increase the amount returned to shareholders.