Sales of 599.4 billion KRW, Operating Profit of 28.5 billion KRW
Increased by 8.7% and 36.3% Year-on-Year, Respectively
NHN achieved strong performance in the second quarter of this year, driven by balanced growth in payment, advertising, and commerce sectors. In the second half of the year, the company plans to strengthen its core business in the gaming sector to expand its business competitiveness.
On the 6th, NHN announced that it recorded consolidated sales of 599.4 billion KRW and operating profit of 28.5 billion KRW in the second quarter of this year. Sales increased by 8.7% and operating profit grew by 36.3% compared to the same period last year.
Looking at sales by sector, the gaming division recorded 106.4 billion KRW, down 0.7% year-on-year and 12.7% quarter-on-quarter. Although overall game sales decreased quarter-on-quarter due to the base effect following the strong 10th anniversary event of "Line Disney Tsum Tsum" in the first quarter, web board games maintained steady traffic with sales growth even in the off-season second quarter compared to the previous quarter.
The payment and advertising division achieved 295.8 billion KRW, up 14.7% year-on-year, supported by expanded sales-linked business performance of NHN Payco and NHN KCP’s record-high overseas transaction volume for the quarter. Payco’s transaction amount contributing to sales in the second quarter reached 1.5 trillion KRW, continuing growth compared to the same period last year. Sales of the strategic corporate welfare solution business also increased by 32% year-on-year.
The commerce division recorded 57.4 billion KRW, up 10.7% year-on-year, influenced by the acquisition of "Iconic" in the second half of last year. The technology division achieved 98.0 billion KRW, up 4.7% year-on-year. In particular, NHN Cloud, which began to recognize sales generated from the "Gwangju National AI Data Center," led growth in the technology sector with a 34% increase compared to the same period last year.
The content division recorded 53.4 billion KRW, up 5.8% year-on-year. Especially, NHN Link saw a 48% increase in sales year-on-year due to increased revenue related to professional baseball, which attracted the highest-ever audience in the second quarter.
NHN plans to enhance its core business competitiveness centered on the gaming division in the second half of the year. First, the social casino game "Pebble City" is scheduled for global release, including North America, within this year. NHN CEO Woojin Jung expressed confidence during the earnings conference call, stating, "The trendy design of the slots and various meta games will greatly interest social casino users, and NHN’s stable operational capabilities are expected to enhance the fun of the game."
Additionally, on the 8th, "Uparu Odyssey" will be launched globally, focusing on Japan and Taiwan. CEO Jung said, "Just as Uparu Odyssey rekindled the forgotten fun of SNG (Social Network Games) in Korea, it is expected to reawaken the enjoyment of SNG in the global market by presenting the core fun of collecting numerous Uparus and strategic battle content through attribute combinations."
However, the official release date of the zombie apocalypse game "Darkest Days," which recently completed its second CBT successfully, has been postponed from the second half of this year to the first quarter of next year. CEO Jung stated, "Many people expressed a desire for a PC version release during the Darkest Days CBT. Accordingly, we have shifted plans to release the mobile version within this year first, followed by a sequential PC version release, and are currently considering simultaneous release."
Regarding the Payco business, NHN will actively manage risks related to the T-mep incident. CEO Jung said, "NHN Payco showed smooth growth and deficit improvement trends until the first half of this year, but has recently been somewhat affected by issues related to Tmon and Wemakeprice. In response, NHN Payco has established an active response system, including accepting refund requests for payment rights issued by the affected merchants to minimize customer damage, and is making every effort to settle and recover related claims."
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