[Special Stock] Woori Financial Soars Over 6% on Introduction of Tax-Free Dividends

Woori Financial Group's stock surged over 6% on the 10th. This is attributed to growing expectations for enhanced shareholder value, including the introduction of tax-exempt dividends this year.

As of 2:54 PM on the same day, Woori Financial's shares were trading at 16,320 KRW, up 6.04% from the previous trading day.

In its earnings announcement on the 7th, Woori Financial stated that it plans to increase its share repurchase and cancellation amount by about 10% from the previous year to 150 billion KRW. Additionally, it will introduce tax-exempt dividends to effectively increase shareholders' dividend yields.

Regarding this, Taejun Jeong, a researcher at Mirae Asset Securities, said, "Tax-exempt dividends are expected to benefit individual shareholders by reducing dividend income tax and excluding them from comprehensive financial income taxation, while corporate shareholders will benefit from deferred corporate tax effects."

Meanwhile, Woori Financial's net profit for last year recorded 3.086 trillion KRW, a 23.1% increase compared to the previous year. This is the second-best performance in history following 2022 (3.1417 trillion KRW). With a year-end dividend of 660 KRW per share, last year's total annual dividend reached a record high of 1,200 KRW per share.