[Click eStock] "HL Holdings Strengthens Shareholder Return Policy... Target Price Maintained"

Hana Securities maintained a buy rating and a target price of 45,000 KRW for HL Holdings on the 24th. The closing price on the previous trading day was 35,800 KRW.

On the day, Seonjae Song, a researcher at Hana Securities, stated, "Based on the current stock price, HL Holdings' PBR (price-to-book ratio) is around 0.33 times. With the strengthening of shareholder return policies, this year we can expect a total shareholder return yield of 13.9%, including a 5.6% dividend yield (2,000 KRW per share) and a share buyback cancellation worth 29.2 billion KRW." He added, "Although business performance is expected to stagnate due to a slowdown in industrial demand, an increase in equity-method income and royalty income is anticipated from the recovery of the subsidiary HL alone in the holding company segment."

HL Holdings announced on the 7th that it would significantly strengthen its existing shareholder return policy. Accordingly, it will maintain a dividend of 2,000 KRW per share this year and plans to cancel 470,000 treasury shares (market value approximately 16.2 billion KRW) within this month. It also plans to continue purchasing and canceling treasury shares by dividing a total of 20 billion KRW in 2026 and 2027.

Last year, sales and operating profit were recorded at 1.37 trillion KRW and 90.1 billion KRW (operating margin 6.6%), respectively. The company’s own sales forecast for this year is 1.34 trillion KRW. Researcher Song said, "This is a conservative estimate considering the slowdown in industrial demand, representing a 2% decrease compared to last year, but the operating margin is expected to remain at a similar level."

In terms of new business, the company is focusing on the robotics sector. Researcher Song added, "HL Holdings has designated this year as the 'first year of commercialization of parking robots' and plans to accelerate the business through its subsidiary HL Robotics and Stanley Robotics, which was acquired last year."