[Stock In Focus] APR Gains On Outlook For "2.1 Trillion Won Sales" This Year Even Under Conservative Estimates

APR is trading strong, which appears to be driven by securities firms' outlook for robust earnings this year.

As of 10:17 a.m. on the 26th, APR was trading at 324,000 won, up 7.12% from the previous day.

On this day, Hanwha Investment & Securities presented APR's sales guidance for this year at 2.1 trillion won, up 40% year-on-year, and described it as "a conservative figure."

In the fourth quarter of last year, APR's consolidated revenue was tallied at 547.6 billion won, up 124.2% from a year earlier. Operating profit came to 130.1 billion won, a 227.9% increase, exceeding the consensus (market forecast average) operating profit of 112.7 billion won.

Hanwha Investment & Securities cited expansion of stock keeping units (SKUs), offline expansion, and the full-scale rollout of its European business as the key drivers for APR this year.

Han Yoojeong, an analyst at Hanwha Investment & Securities, said, "Currently, APR has 15 SKUs in offline distribution in the United States, while many comparable brands operate more than 60 SKUs," adding, "The exclusive contract with Ulta in the United States is scheduled to be finalized in the second quarter of this year, and we expect that, as early as June, APR will begin entering at least two additional offline channels."

She also projected that the European subsidiary is currently in the stage of building up inventory and that full-fledged operations there will begin in March this year.

Taking into account increasing offline sales in the United States and Japan, higher business-to-business (B2B) volumes, and expanded sales in Europe, she estimated first-quarter revenue this year at 513.7 billion won, up 93.1% from a year earlier.

She forecast this year's sales guidance at 2.1 trillion won.

The analyst added, "Given that online sales account for a high share in key regions, first-quarter revenue is likely to be the low point of the year," and reiterated that "the 2.1 trillion won sales guidance is a conservative figure."

In fact, Hanwha Investment & Securities had presented 1 trillion won as the 2025 sales guidance in February last year, but APR's actual revenue for 2025 reached 1.5 trillion won.