Daedong, H1 Sales Reach 814.2 Billion KRW... Highest Performance Since Establishment

[Asia Economy Reporter Kwak Min-jae] Daedong announced on the 16th that its consolidated sales and operating profit for the first half of the year increased by 28.2% and 35.1% respectively compared to the same period last year, reaching 814.2 billion KRW and 67.7 billion KRW, setting a new record for the company's highest performance since its founding. These figures surpassed market expectations of 764.8 billion KRW in sales and 55.4 billion KRW in operating profit.

Looking at the second quarter alone, sales reached 457.4 billion KRW and operating profit 46.1 billion KRW, marking the first time in the company's history to achieve sales in the 400 billion KRW range and operating profit in the 40 billion KRW range, recording the highest quarterly performance ever.

Daedong is pursuing the "smartization of agricultural machinery business," which is analyzed to have enhanced competitiveness and achieved the highest performance ever. According to Daedong, although the overall domestic agricultural machinery market in the first half of this year decreased by 7.9% compared to the same period last year based on government agricultural machinery loan performance, the total sales volume of Daedong’s complete agricultural machinery such as tractors, combines, and rice transplanters increased by approximately 11%.

Additionally, despite price increases in the second quarter targeting about 70 export countries, sales continued to rise due to high customer preference and loyalty toward the Kioti brand. Combined with a favorable exchange rate effect, overseas sales in the first half reached 524.6 billion KRW, an increase of about 42% year-on-year. Furthermore, strategic diversification of the supply chain from parts to overseas logistics improved quality and cost competitiveness, significantly enhancing profitability.

From the second half of the year, Daedong will gradually implement strategies to achieve overwhelming domestic No. 1 status and grow as a leading company in North America. The company plans to expand its domestic and international product lineup and maximize production flexibility and efficiency through the advancement of smart factories, establishing an annual tractor production system of 60,000 units.

Won Yoo-hyun, Daedong’s CEO, stated, “In the face of global economic uncertainties, we will not be complacent with current achievements but will continuously achieve external and internal growth through structural advancement of future businesses and internalization of core competencies.”