Enhancing Corporate Value and Returning Profits to Shareholders
On-Market Share Repurchase Begins on the 22nd
Celltrion announced on the 21st that its board of directors has approved an additional share buyback program worth approximately 100 billion KRW. The share repurchase will be conducted through on-market purchases starting from the 22nd.
Celltrion continues to repurchase its own shares, driven by confidence in the company's growth and the belief that its share value is undervalued in the market. Including this latest decision, the company has bought back shares eight times this year, with a total value of approximately 750 billion KRW. The total value of treasury shares retired by the company this year has reached about 900 billion KRW.
Additionally, Celltrion Holdings, the holding company of the Celltrion Group, secured new funds on July 4 and decided to purchase Celltrion shares in two separate transactions totaling 500 billion KRW to enhance corporate value. In April, Celltrion Holdings also decided to acquire Celltrion shares worth 100 billion KRW. Furthermore, Celltrion Group Chairman Seo Jungjin and the group affiliate Celltrion Skincure each decided to acquire shares worth 50 billion KRW. These actions have strengthened efforts to enhance shareholder value. Employees also participated by purchasing company shares worth approximately 40 billion KRW through the employee stock ownership program.
In addition to shareholder returns, Celltrion is also focusing on enhancing corporate value. Last year, Celltrion achieved record annual sales of 3.5573 trillion KRW, and in the first quarter of this year, the company again posted its highest-ever quarterly sales. On this day, Celltrion announced preliminary figures for the second quarter: sales of 961.5 billion KRW and an operating profit of 242.5 billion KRW, signaling continued growth. Both sales and operating profit marked the highest second-quarter results in the company's history.
Celltrion is also committed to securing future growth engines by focusing on the development of next-generation new drugs, such as antibody-drug conjugates (ADC) and multi-specific antibodies. The company aims to submit Investigational New Drug (IND) applications for a total of 13 candidates?nine in the ADC field and four in the multi-specific antibody field?by 2028. Based on its accumulated expertise in the antibody sector, including the world's first development of an antibody biosimilar, Celltrion plans to rapidly expand its new drug portfolio.
A Celltrion representative stated, "This share buyback decision demonstrates our confidence in the company's future value and our commitment to growing together with our investors," adding, "We will accelerate our leap to become a global big pharma company through proactive shareholder return policies, continuous innovation, and expansion of our global market share."
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