Wingsfoot Turns Net Profit Positive Last Year... "20 Billion Won Scale Profit Improvement"

Wingsfoot, a KOSDAQ-listed company, achieved a significant turnaround in performance by recording substantial net income, centered on the North American brand 'Bearpaw' and the Italian premium brand 'Adno.'

Wingsfoot announced on the 14th through a disclosure of changes exceeding 30% in sales or profit structure that it achieved a net income of 3.06 billion KRW last year. Operating profit also increased by 7.3% year-on-year to 3.98 billion KRW. However, sales slightly decreased to 51.59 billion KRW compared to the previous year.

This improvement in net income was due to the resolution of net losses caused by temporary costs related to the SPAC merger listing in 2022. Wingsfoot focused on selling PB brands with higher profitability rather than domestic purchased products, which have relatively lower profit margins compared to sales. As a result, although sales slightly decreased, the company explained that the operating profit margin increased compared to the same period last year.

Wingsfoot laid the foundation for stable performance maintenance last year through strong sales of its core brand 'Bearpaw' and the launch of the new brand 'Adno.' Wingsfoot's performance growth is expected to continue this year as well. The expansion of sales for new brands such as 'Nautica' shoes, for which it secured exclusive domestic licensing last year, and 'Adno' is expected to accelerate from this year. In addition, the company plans to sustain sales growth by launching additional overseas brands and strengthening competitiveness in product development.

A Wingsfoot representative stated, "In 2022, due to the nature of the SPAC merger, a one-time non-operating expense of 19.8 billion KRW was reflected during the merger process, resulting in a large net loss. This is unrelated to the company's fundamentals, and since last year, based on distribution network expansion and new brand growth, we have continued steady performance growth in our core business."