[Featured Stock] Meritz Financial Group Hits Record High... Soars on Best Ever Half-Year Performance

First Half Net Profit of 1.3275 Trillion KRW, All-Time High
Second Quarter Net Profit Also a Record at 736.2 Billion KRW
"Total Shareholder Return Yield 7.3%, PER 6.4 Times, Attractive Stock Price"

Meritz Financial Group hit a new all-time high after five months. It appears that buying momentum is gathering following the announcement of record-high half-year net profit.

As of 9:28 a.m. on the 16th, Meritz Financial Group was trading at 89,900 KRW, up 7.02% (5,900 KRW) from the previous trading day. It surpassed the previous all-time high of 88,300 KRW recorded in March, marking a new peak after about five months. During intraday trading, it briefly broke the 90,000 KRW mark.

Meritz Financial Group disclosed its Q2 and half-year earnings after the market closed on the 14th. The consolidated net profit for the first half of this year was 1.3275 trillion KRW, a 12.5% increase compared to the same period last year, marking the highest half-year performance ever. Operating profit reached 1.7764 trillion KRW. Looking at Q2 net profit alone, it rose 27.7% year-on-year to 736.2 billion KRW, also the highest quarterly net profit on record.

Meritz Financial stated, "The record half-year performance this year was due to the simultaneous improvement in fire and securities earnings, driven by steady growth in insurance profits and improved interest income, despite recognizing provisions for real estate project financing (PF)." Im Heeyeon, a researcher at Shinhan Investment Corp., said, "Despite the stock price increase in the first half, the total shareholder return yield as of the closing price on the 14th remains attractive at 7.3%. Considering the planned share buybacks up to a price-to-earnings ratio (PER) of 10 times, the current PER of 6.4 times is within a comfortable range."