[Click eStock] "NICE Pyeongga Information, Both Performance and Outlook Positive"

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Jihwan] Ebest Investment & Securities maintained a 'Buy' rating on NICE Pyeongga Information, whose core business is credit evaluation (CB) for individual business owners, citing a steady growth trend, and raised the target price by 25% from the previous 24,000 KRW to 30,000 KRW.

Jung Hongsik, a researcher at Ebest Investment & Securities, stated, "NICE Pyeongga Information has been growing annually, and this growth trend is likely to continue," adding, "This is because the demand for data inquiries and credit management in both individual and corporate CB continues to expand." He explained that recently, the digital sector within individual CB (accounting for 40% of sales, including identity verification and personal credit management businesses) has shown high growth. He expects a more favorable environment as the number of personal credit information inquiries increases in the future.

The expected first-quarter performance forecasts sales of 117.8 billion KRW, an 8.4% increase year-on-year, and operating profit of 16.7 billion KRW, up 8.8%. It is anticipated that balanced growth will continue in both individual and corporate sectors, similar to last year. In particular, an increase in mid-interest loans (expansion of demand for solution businesses), growth in personal credit information inquiries (expansion of new services), an increase in customer base due to the expansion of new businesses such as MyData, and a price increase at the beginning of the year due to a rise in the number of inquiries in the personal CB (information provision sector) of commercial banks, which saw increased credit information inquiries in 2000, are expected.

Researcher Jung emphasized, "We expect steady growth to be maintained due to the ongoing upward trend in performance and the expansion of the credit information market utilizing data."