Daekyo Aims for Profit Turnaround with New Pet Business

Opening of Customized Training Space ‘Howlpot Edu Center’
Full-Scale Entry into the Pet Market

Daekyo is aiming to improve its performance by fostering the pet business as a new growth engine. Following its acquisition of the pet specialist company Howlpot last year, Daekyo recently opened a customized training space called ‘Howlpot Edu Center,’ marking its full-scale entry into the pet market. This move is seen as Daekyo’s new business portfolio for performance improvement taking shape.

According to Daekyo Group on the 11th, Howlpot has established the ‘Howlpot Edu Center’ inside its Hannam branch in Yongsan-gu, Seoul, dedicated to customized training for pet dogs. Here, one-on-one training programs tailored to the individual characteristics of each dog are provided. This expands the business beyond the existing care-focused pet services into the training and education market.

Daekyo officially entered the pet care business by acquiring Howlpot in November last year. The strategy was to expand the business by integrating Daekyo’s educational expertise into existing care services such as pet kindergartens and hotels.

Alongside pet care, Daekyo’s new business focuses on senior care as a core pillar. In 2022, it launched ‘Daekyo NewEve,’ providing long-term care services for the elderly, marking its entry into the senior care business. Currently, it operates 61 long-term care centers nationwide. Last month, Daekyo expanded into the funeral service sector by launching the membership-based funeral service ‘Nadawn Graduation Ceremony.’ In October last year, it continued related investments by acquiring nine long-term care centers with a capital injection of 13.9 billion KRW.

Industry and market attention is focused on whether Daekyo can escape its deficit with this portfolio. Since 2020, when its core businesses such as visiting learning services were hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, Daekyo has been operating at a loss. After recording an operating loss of 50 billion KRW in 2022, it significantly reduced losses last year through improvements in core business performance and efficiency in selling and administrative expenses, but growth momentum remains urgently needed.

Daekyo’s strategy is to grow its pet and senior care businesses based on the brand trust it has built in the education sector. The goal is to establish a comprehensive life care business portfolio covering infants, seniors, and pets, and to leap forward as an integrated life care company. In particular, the continuous growth of the pet market and the increasing demand for long-term care and funeral services due to the aging society are expected to have a positive impact. For example, Daekyo NewEve’s sales in the third quarter of last year surged to 8.3 billion KRW, up sharply from 700 million KRW the previous year, continuing its external growth.

A Daekyo official explained, "We plan to create synergy by implementing dementia prevention programs targeting seniors on the borderline of dementia using pets."