SAMG Enter, Q4 Operating Profit 9 Billion Won 'Turned to Black'... Performance Turnaround After 7 Quarters

SAMG Entertainment (CEO Kim Suhoon, hereinafter SAMG Entertainment) announced on the 10th that it surpassed approximately 41.9 billion KRW in sales and about 9 billion KRW in operating profit in the fourth quarter of last year, successfully achieving a performance turnaround after seven quarters.

According to the disclosure submitted by SAMG Entertainment on the 10th regarding a change of 30% or more in sales or profit structure, the cumulative consolidated sales for 2024 amounted to approximately 116.4 billion KRW, an increase of about 22.4% compared to the previous year, while operating loss recorded about 6.1 billion KRW, a decrease of about 35.1% year-on-year. Notably, the company achieved over 9 billion KRW in operating profit in the fourth quarter alone, marking a significant performance turnaround.

The improvement in SAMG Entertainment’s performance is analyzed to have been driven by the stabilization of its revenue structure and the OSMU (One Source Multi Use) business strategy utilizing hit IPs. By the end of the third quarter, SAMG Entertainment completed the disposal of accumulated inventory, significantly reducing the cost of sales ratio by more than 20% in the fourth quarter, and succeeded in internalizing its distribution network, which also cut selling and administrative expenses by over 20%, achieving revenue structure stabilization.

Additionally, the reflection of ticket sales revenue from the hit movie Love’s Hatchuping, increased sales volume of major IP-related MD products that caused a sell-out frenzy, and expanded license sales with major domestic and international companies in F&B and fashion sectors contributed to balanced growth across various business areas. This demonstrated that Korean companies can successfully implement high value-added business models utilizing animation IP.

SAMG Entertainment stated, “2024 was a year in which we set revenue structure improvement as a key indicator and fought desperately to achieve a turnaround to profitability.” They added, “The simultaneous success of the hit movie Love’s Hatchuping and high value-added business strategies utilizing various animation IPs allowed us to achieve both sales growth and cost reduction.”

They continued, “Since both the cost of sales ratio and selling and administrative expense ratio decreased starting from the last quarter, we are now able to operate the business with the goal of achieving overall annual profitability this year,” expressing expectations for achieving full-year profitability in 2025.

Furthermore, SAMG Entertainment unveiled a new IP expansion strategy leveraging the expanded target age group following the success of the movie Love’s Hatchuping.

CEO Kim Suhoon of SAMG Entertainment said, “We have built a sustainable revenue model capable of continuous growth through the birth of a super IP, and following steady sales growth in China and Japan, global expansion beyond Northeast Asia is now within sight.” He added, “With large-scale new business collaborations and new IPs and proprietary platforms to be unveiled within the year, SAMG Entertainment will achieve another leap forward.”