NVT, Conversion Bonds Fully Settled Raising Equity Ratio '↑'... "Expanding Financial Soundness Alongside Performance Recovery"

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunseok Yoo] Approximately 3 billion KRW worth of NBT’s first tranche convertible bonds (CB) were fully converted into common shares as of the 22nd. This exercise of conversion rights resolved the overhang (potential pending sell volume) and increased the existing equity capital ratio of 26 billion KRW by about 11%.

According to the financial investment industry on the 25th, NBT’s sales in the fourth quarter of last year reached 14.7 billion KRW, growing about 40% compared to the previous quarter, and operating profit turned positive at 400 million KRW. As of January this year, the combined monthly active users (MAU) of NBT’s main business models, the B2C point advertising platform ‘Cashslide’ and the B2B offerwall platform ‘Edison,’ surpassed 10 million, marking an all-time high. Despite the COVID-19 impact that swept across the industry last year and the typical performance decline during the IPO process, the company appears to be recovering rapidly.

NBT is a point platform operator that generates revenue based on MAU. The profitability increase of private label (PB) products, which are procured in-house, along with partnerships with large platforms with many users, has been cited as a key clue to future growth potential.

NBT attracted attention as the first IPO of this year amid the ongoing public offering investment frenzy, recording a subscription rate of 4,397 to 1, the highest ever. On the first day of listing, it achieved the so-called ‘ttasang’ (double jump from the IPO price), reaching a peak price of 38,100 KRW, more than double the IPO price of 19,000 KRW. However, with the recent decline in the KOSDAQ index and the subsequent sell-off by early investors, the stock price hit a low of 20,100 KRW on the 23rd.

An NBT official said, “Although a correction phase has somewhat emerged following the index decline after listing, we believe this is not a devaluation reflecting the company’s true value, and since there are no additional dilution factors such as stock options or CBs, we expect the market to fully re-evaluate the company along with future performance verification.” He added, “Above all, starting from the turnaround in the fourth quarter, the growth in business segment performance this year is clearly exceeding the levels of previous years.” He continued, “Regarding the new offerwall platform business, inquiries for partnerships with leading large domestic media outlets by industry continue, and internally, we are targeting the achievement of record-high performance this year.”