[Click eStock] "Hybe, Soon to Be Designated as a Large Corporation, Faces Weak Q1 Earnings Outlook"

Daol Investment & Securities forecasted on the 11th that HYBE, which is set to be designated as a large corporation this year, will announce poor performance in the first quarter of this year. This is attributed to the fact that among the existing affiliated groups, only 'Le Sserafim' made a comeback despite the successful debuts of new groups Tours and Eilet. They expect performance to improve from the second quarter after a period of consolidation.

Kim Hye-young, a researcher at Daol Investment & Securities, predicted, "HYBE's first-quarter sales and operating profit will record 340.3 billion KRW and 17 billion KRW, down 17.1% and 44.1% respectively compared to the same period last year." Although concert sales from the Seven Team Follow Encore Tour and ENHYPEN Fate Tour are expected to increase by 91%, album sales, including Le Sserafim's mini 3rd album (1.1 million copies), Tours' mini 1st album (500,000 copies), and Eilet (400,000 copies), are projected to decrease by 26.8%, and merchandise and license sales as well as content sales are expected to decline by about 30% each.

Researcher Kim added, "Comebacks from Seven Team, TXT, NewJeans, and BoyNextDoor are scheduled for the second quarter, and related concert sales are anticipated," forecasting that "this will act as a positive momentum for performance starting from the second quarter." He also noted, "A stock valuation loss of approximately 12.8 billion KRW related to HYBE's 12.6% stake in SM will be reflected."