Lee Dongsun, Amorepacific CEO: "This Year, the First Year of Turnaround... Pioneering New Markets"

Lee Dong-soon, CEO of Amorepacific, stated on the 17th, "2023 will be the inaugural year of Amorepacific's turnaround," adding, "We will prioritize 'customer-centricity' as our core value and pioneer new business areas and markets with a vision and strategy that reflect the changes of the times."

Lee Dong-soon, CEO of Amorepacific, is delivering a speech at the 17th Annual General Meeting of Shareholders held at the headquarters in Yongsan-gu, Seoul, on the morning of the 17th.
[Photo by Amorepacific]

Attending the 17th regular shareholders' meeting held at the headquarters in Yongsan-gu, Seoul, that morning, Lee said, "Last year, the difficult management environment continued due to economic recession caused by high interest rates and high inflation, as well as the impact of COVID-19 lockdowns. Although we actively pursued new attempts and changes to overcome these challenges, they did not translate into sufficient financial results."

Last year, Amorepacific Group's consolidated sales amounted to 4.495 trillion KRW, and operating profit was 271.9 billion KRW, down 15.6% and 23.7% respectively compared to the same period the previous year. The main affiliate, Amorepacific, recorded sales of 4.1349 trillion KRW last year, a 15% decrease from the previous year, and operating profit of 214.2 billion KRW, down 37.6%.

Amorepacific's domestic business sales fell 16.1% year-on-year to 2.8744 trillion KRW, with operating profit decreasing 30.8% to 235.3 billion KRW. Overseas business sales declined 17.1% to 1.4935 trillion KRW, and operating profit plummeted 84.3% to 8.1 billion KRW.

Lee said, "We had a high dependence on China, but we will reduce this and also lower our reliance on duty-free shops," adding, "Since sales in Japan increased by about 30%, we will continue to develop markets in countries other than China."

At this shareholders' meeting, Amorepacific approved three agenda items: ▲approval of the 17th financial statements and consolidated financial statements ▲appointment of directors ▲approval of the limit on directors' remuneration.

Accordingly, Kim Seung-hwan, President of Amorepacific, and Park Jong-man, Vice President of Amorepacific Digital Strategy Unit, were appointed as inside directors, and Lee Jae-yeon, former President of Johnson & Johnson and currently head of marketing and retail sales at Royal Canin, was newly appointed as an outside director.

President Kim was appointed last year as CEO of Amorepacific, succeeding Ahn Se-hong, who led the company for the past five years. He plans to focus on reducing Amorepacific's dependence on China and expanding overseas markets such as Japan, Southeast Asia, the United States, and Europe.

Meanwhile, on the same day, Amorepacific Group held its 64th regular shareholders' meeting and approved four agenda items: ▲64th financial statements ▲appointment of directors ▲appointment of audit committee members ▲approval of the limit on directors' remuneration. With the approval of these items, Lee Sang-mok was newly appointed as an inside director, and Lee Eun-jung, CEO of Line Plus, and Chae Kyu-ha, former Secretary General of the Korea Fair Trade Commission, were newly appointed as outside directors. Professor Kim Eon-su of Korea University’s Business Administration Department, who served as president of the Korean Strategic Management Society, was reappointed as an outside director. Professors Kim Eon-su and Chae Kyu-ha were appointed as audit committee members.