Meritz Financial Group Holdings Reports 620.8 Billion Won Q1 Net Profit... "Shareholder Returns to Continue"

Net Profit Up 5% Year-on-Year
Industry-Leading ROE at 24.6%

Meritz Financial Group Holdings announced on May 14 that its consolidated net profit for the first quarter reached 620.8 billion won, a 5.0% increase compared to the same period last year.

Meritz Financial Group Building, Gangnam-gu, Seoul. Meritz Financial Group Holdings

First-quarter revenue and operating profit were reported at 8.2303 trillion won and 721.7 billion won, respectively. Total assets amounted to 119.6833 trillion won. The return on equity (ROE) stood at 24.6%, the highest level in the industry.

A representative from Meritz Financial Group Holdings explained, "Despite an unstable domestic and global business environment, we have stably increased net interest income and improved financial investment profit based on solid earnings fundamentals."

Looking at the performance of subsidiaries, Meritz Fire & Marine Insurance recorded a standalone net profit of 462.5 billion won in the first quarter, a 5.8% decrease compared to the same period last year. Meritz Securities posted a consolidated net profit of 187.4 billion won for the first quarter, up 48.1% year-on-year.

The Meritz Financial Group Holdings representative stated, "Meritz Fire & Marine Insurance will focus on generating stable profits by securing high-quality new contracts, while Meritz Securities will continue to reassess risk factors and build a diversified profit portfolio."

Meritz Financial Group Holdings plans to continue shareholder returns this year as well.

According to the corporate value enhancement plan disclosed on May 8, since the implementation of the shareholder return policy in 2023, the cumulative total shareholder return (TSR) of Meritz Financial Group Holdings has reached 194.4%, and the average annual TSR stands at 45.7%.

As of the end of March, the return on treasury stock buyback and cancellation was 11.6%. Since this exceeds Meritz Financial Group Holdings' required rate of return of 10%, the company plans to maintain a shareholder return policy centered on treasury stock buybacks and cancellations.

In March and September last year, Meritz Financial Group Holdings repurchased 500 billion won worth of treasury shares each time, totaling 1 trillion won, which was fully cancelled in the first quarter of this year. The company additionally repurchased 550 billion won worth of treasury shares.