SK Square achieved its highest quarterly performance to date, driven by profits from its stake in SK Hynix and improved profitability across its portfolio companies.
On May 14, SK Square reported consolidated revenues of 3 trillion won, operating profit of 8.28 trillion won, and net profit of 8.37 trillion won for the first quarter of 2026. Compared to the same period last year, operating profit surged by 400%, while net profit increased by 419%.
The company attributed its performance improvement to the expanded equity method gains from SK Hynix and the profitability-focused management strategies of its portfolio companies.
Key corporate valuation indicators also showed improvement. SK Square recently ranked third in market capitalization on the KOSPI, with a market cap of approximately 157 trillion won as of the close on May 13. This represents a nearly 15-fold increase from about 10.6 trillion won in early January last year and a three-fold increase from around 51.8 trillion won in early January this year.
The company's core value-up indicator, the net asset value (NAV) discount rate, continued to improve. As of May 13, SK Square's NAV discount rate was 46.6%, down from 65.7% at the end of 2024 and 51.5% at the end of 2025. A lower NAV discount rate indicates that the market values the company more highly compared to the value of its assets.
The price-to-book ratio (PBR) was approximately 4.3 times as of May 13. The return on equity (ROE) stood at 55.1% as of the end of March, exceeding the company's stated cost of equity (COE) target of 15-20%.
To enhance corporate value, SK Square is expanding its shareholder return policy. The company plans to implement a total of 310 billion won in shareholder returns from this year through early next year. Last year, it repurchased 200 billion won worth of its own shares and is considering a larger return policy this year. Since 2023, the company has been conducting annual share buybacks and retirements.
The company is also continuing to restructure its investment portfolio. In January, SK Square sold its digital advertising firm, InCross, to SK Networks. Additionally, it has invested in seven AI and semiconductor companies in the U.S. and Japan through its overseas investment firm, TGC Square.
Looking ahead, the company plans to focus on new investments and portfolio rebalancing centered around AI bottleneck resolution technologies and the semiconductor value chain.
Kim Jeong-kyu, CEO of SK Square, stated, "We will enhance communication with shareholders and focus on increasing corporate value. We will continue to pursue innovations based on AI and new investments in the AI and semiconductor sectors."
Meanwhile, SK Telecom (SKT) held an extraordinary shareholders' meeting on October 12, 2021, where it approved the spin-off into the surviving entity SKT and the investment firm SK Square. Both companies officially launched on November 1 of the same year.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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