Hecto Innovation announced its preliminary earnings for the first quarter of 2024, setting a record for the highest first-quarter sales in its history.
On the 8th, Hecto Innovation disclosed its preliminary earnings, reporting consolidated first-quarter figures of ▲sales of 73.8 billion KRW ▲operating profit of 9.8 billion KRW ▲net profit of 7.8 billion KRW. Sales and net profit increased by 6.0% and 11.9% respectively compared to the same period last year, while operating profit decreased by 3.2%.
The first-quarter sales represent the highest first-quarter sales ever and are at a similar level to the third quarter of 2023, which recorded the highest sales since the company's founding. In particular, other sales increased by 137% year-on-year to 2.7 billion KRW due to advertising revenue generated from the reward app platform ‘Ballosodeuk’. The sales composition by consolidated business segment was 35% from the information services sector, 46% from the fintech sector, and 19% from the healthcare sector, with the information services sector’s share increasing by 3 percentage points, continuing stable growth.
Operating profit decreased by 3.2% year-on-year due to increased investment costs in new businesses. However, thanks to effects such as reduced advertising expenses, it increased by 35.6% compared to the previous quarter. Adjusted EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization), excluding depreciation and stock compensation costs, was 14.3 billion KRW, up 1.2% year-on-year, maintaining a similar level of operating cash flow.
CEO Hyuncheol Lee said, “Since the fintech sector, which accounts for the largest share of sales, is seasonally slow in the first quarter, achieving the highest first-quarter sales ever carries significant meaning as a positive signal for this year’s performance outlook. In the information services sector, we strengthened our One Source Multi Use strategy to increase sales and improve cost efficiency, achieving more than a 15% performance improvement. We also plan to launch a global personal data protection app service in the third quarter.”
Hecto Innovation plans to actively invest in new B2C businesses. It operates IT technology-based finance, data, and healthcare businesses through its subsidiaries, fintech company ‘Hecto Financial’ and healthcare service company ‘Hecto Healthcare’, including Korea’s first MyData-based card benefits platform ‘The Ssen Card’ and the app-tech platform ‘Ballosodeuk’, which turns habits into income.
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