A-Root Strengthens Responsible Management through Major Shareholder Change... Full-Scale Mecenat Activities Initiated

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunseok Yoo] A-Root, a company specializing in industrial printers, announced on the 15th that its largest shareholder has changed from the existing ‘Fortuna No.1 Private Equity Partnership and one other’ (5.47%) to ‘Choi Jeong-im and one other’ (6.46%). With this change in the largest shareholder, A-Root is expected to strengthen shareholder responsibility and accelerate the promotion of new businesses. Additionally, A-Root plans to actively engage in patronage activities by appointing writer Hwang Su-young (Hwang Seok-young) as an outside director.

A-Root’s industrial printer business division is recovering from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, with sales returning to normal. Recently, as the online shopping market has accelerated its growth, demand for mobile printers has increased, especially in logistics and transportation sectors. A-Root has shown a steady sales growth trend centered on high value-added products such as premium mobile printers.

With the digitalization of stores and the increase in unmanned stores, the POS printer market is also expected to continue growing. In August, A-Root signed a POS printer supply contract worth 6.2 billion KRW with the largest POS manufacturer in Korea, laying the foundation to become the number one POS printer manufacturer domestically.

Beyond its core business, A-Root made a strategic investment in May in Virocure, a company developing anticancer virus drugs, as a new growth engine. Virocure is developing a total of four types of viral anticancer agents and a coronavirus vaccine platform. Currently, the liver metastasis cancer treatment (RC402-IT) has successfully completed Phase 1a clinical trials in Australia and is preparing for Phase 1b, aiming to complete clinical dosing within this year.

In addition, in June, A-Root incorporated Woojin Gijeon, which supplies electrical equipment and provides solution engineering services, as an affiliate. Woojin Gijeon has over 300 clients across various fields including semiconductors, displays, construction, and renewable energy, and is expected to achieve cumulative orders of 200 billion KRW in the third quarter of this year.

An A-Root official stated, “With this change in the largest shareholder, responsible management will be strengthened and various new businesses the company is pursuing will accelerate. We are reviewing additional new businesses including bio, power solutions, and hydrogen-related projects, and are doing our best to secure future growth engines for the company.”

Meanwhile, A-Root plans to appoint Hwang Seok-young, a representative writer of Korean literature, as an outside director through an extraordinary general meeting of shareholders in November, to actively promote patronage activities for the advancement of Korean literature and the globalization of K-literature. Hwang Seok-young is a novelist representing Korea, renowned not only domestically but also internationally, with his works translated and published in 32 countries worldwide.