Global comprehensive content company Aniplus surpassed cumulative sales of 80 billion KRW within three quarters. Compared to the cumulative sales of 11.2 billion KRW during the same period in its first year of listing in 2020, this represents more than a sevenfold growth in three years.
On the 14th, Aniplus announced that it achieved consolidated cumulative sales of 82.6 billion KRW and operating profit of 15.8 billion KRW for the first three quarters of 2023. Sales grew by 107% year-on-year, and operating profit increased by 88%. In the third quarter alone, sales reached 38.9 billion KRW and operating profit 7.5 billion KRW, marking a 157% and 57% increase respectively compared to the same period last year, setting a new record for the highest quarterly performance.
With significant quarterly sales growth this year, Aniplus is on the verge of surpassing total sales of 100 billion KRW in 2023. Since its listing, the company’s sales have consistently trended upward, with a compound annual growth rate of 90% from 2020 to the third quarter of 2023, effectively doubling in size every year.
An Aniplus representative explained, “In the first year of listing in 2020, total sales were 15.8 billion KRW and operating profit recorded a loss, but even comparing only the cumulative results up to the third quarter this year, sales grew by 420% and operating profit by 1631%. Since listing, we have diversified our business portfolio through active M&A, and all consolidated subsidiaries have been increasing their sales and profit scales while creating mutual business synergies, continuing rapid high growth.”
Subsidiaries that have been with Aniplus since its 2020 listing, such as the Singapore-based local corporation PLUS MEDIA and the domestic top-tier exhibition company Media & Art, both turned profitable in 2021 and have rapidly increased their performance since. For the cumulative sales and results up to the third quarter this year, Aniplus recorded separate sales of 26 billion KRW with an operating profit margin of 28%, PLUS MEDIA posted sales of 7.7 billion KRW with an operating profit margin of 40%, and Media & Art achieved sales of 8 billion KRW with an operating profit margin of 32%, driving the growth trend.
Additionally, the companies acquired after listing?WEMADE, ROWN Company, Raftel, and Animax?have all delivered solid results, proving the effectiveness of the aggressive M&A strategy. The cumulative sales up to the third quarter this year were 13 billion KRW for drama production company WEMADE, 9.7 billion KRW for comprehensive goods specialist ROWN Company, and 21.9 billion KRW for animation-specialized OTT platform Raftel. Furthermore, Animax, acquired in June this year to strengthen the company’s core business competitiveness, recorded excellent results in the third quarter alone with sales of 3.4 billion KRW and an operating profit margin of 34%.
The explosive growth of Aniplus’s various business divisions and subsidiaries, which has continued unabated for three years since listing, is expected to continue next year through overseas market expansion. Aniplus’s main business, the animation sector, plans to secure 30 to 40 new IP titles per quarter, totaling 150 annually, to expand sales to domestic and international OTT platforms. The MD division has been developing a business that encompasses the entire subculture IP spectrum beyond simple animation IP, including virtual idols and mobile games, since last year.
In particular, the subsidiary Raftel plans to launch OTT services in six Southeast Asian countries starting January next year. Media & Art also opened a new exhibition hall, ‘Ground Seeso Central,’ near Seoul Station in October. Starting with the opening of a permanent exhibition hall in Singapore early next year, popular exhibition IPs are scheduled for overseas tours throughout the year.
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