KT Corp.
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- From K-pop to cars, coronavirus hits South Korea business Mar 6, 2020 See more articles on KT Corp.
Company Background
KT is the largest telecommunications company in South Korea. It began life as Korea Telecommunications Authority, established in 1981. Since privatization in 2002, KT has expanded by absorbing mobile service provider KT Freetel and others. The South Korean National Pension Service is the largest shareholder in KT. KT engaged in the mobile phone service at its subsidiary. But it was forced to sell the subsidiary to SK group when it was privatized. The separated company, currently SK Telecom, is the top mobile carrier in South Korea.
KT Freetel is a subsidiary KT established after selling the mobile phone service subsidiary to SK group. KT Freetel currently offers telecom services under the Olleh brand and is one of the largest player in the South Korean market.
The company received capital subscriptions from major Japanese mobile carrier NTT Docomo in 2005. The companies cooperate in providing roaming services as well as on a technical level.
Hwang Chang-gyu, who was head of Samsung Electronics' semiconductor business, became the telecommunications company's chairman and CEO in 2014.
He implemented various reforms, such as reducing the number of sections and the number of administration staff and reinforcing overseas operations.
He has also decided to participate in plans to construct communications networks in African nations and introduce smart meters in Uzbekistan.
Business Summary
Financial Highlights
| Dec 2019 | KRW | USD |
| Revenue | 24,342.06B | 20,873.25M |
| Gross Profit | 6,540.82B | 5,608.74M |
| Operating income | 1,124.69B | 964.42M |
| Income before tax | 979,676M | 840.06M |
| Net income | 619,182M | 530.94M |
| EBITDA | 4,763.61B | 4,084.78M |
| Diluted EPS | 2,524.14 | 2.16 |
| Dividends Per Share | 1,100 | 0.94 |
| Total Assets | 34,061.29B | 29,453.32M |
| Total liabilities | 18,874.33B | 16,320.93M |
| Total equity | 13,666.79B | 11,817.88M |
| Operating cash flow | 3,745.17B | 3,211.47M |
| Currency in KRW | Currency in USD |
Historical Data
| Dec 2015 | Dec 2016 | Dec 2017 | Dec 2018 | Dec 2019 | |
| Revenue | 22,281.22B | 22,743.66B | 23,387.26B | 23,460.14B | 24,342.06B |
| Gross Profit | 5,473.97B | 5,649.56B | 6,886.77B | 6,567.94B | 6,540.82B |
| Operating income | 1,279.47B | 1,439.97B | 1,371.95B | 1,240.39B | 1,124.69B |
| Income before tax | 719,452M | 1,127.02B | 837,030M | 1,090.74B | 979,676M |
| Net income | 410,648M | 711,089M | 476,744M | 688,464M | 619,182M |
| EBITDA | 4,618.07B | 4,785.24B | 4,736.45B | 4,522.13B | 4,763.61B |
| Diluted EPS | 1,245 | 2,902 | 1,945.12 | 2,809.47 | 2,524.14 |
| Dividends Per Share | 500 | 800 | 1,000 | 1,100 | 1,100 |
| Total Assets | 29,341.18B | 30,587.73B | 29,730.91B | 32,188.83B | 34,061.29B |
| Total liabilities | 17,175.72B | 17,792.95B | 16,520.31B | 17,457.55B | 18,874.33B |
| Total equity | 10,845.06B | 11,441.93B | 11,819.57B | 13,203.56B | 13,666.79B |
| Operating cash flow | 4,229.96B | 4,770.75B | 3,877.74B | 4,010.46B | 3,745.17B |
| Dec 2015 | Dec 2016 | Dec 2017 | Dec 2018 | Dec 2019 | |
| Revenue | 19,686.47M | 19,603.40M | 20,687.35M | 21,317.36M | 20,873.25M |
| Gross Profit | 4,836.50M | 4,869.52M | 6,091.73M | 5,968.04M | 5,608.74M |
| Operating income | 1,130.47M | 1,241.15M | 1,213.56M | 1,127.10M | 964.42M |
| Income before tax | 635.66M | 971.41M | 740.40M | 991.11M | 840.06M |
| Net income | 362.82M | 612.90M | 421.70M | 625.58M | 530.94M |
| EBITDA | 4,080.27M | 4,124.53M | 4,189.65M | 4,109.09M | 4,084.78M |
| Diluted EPS | 1.10 | 2.50 | 1.72 | 2.55 | 2.16 |
| Dividends Per Share | 0.44 | 0.68 | 0.88 | 0.99 | 0.94 |
| Total Assets | 25,023.39M | 25,325.16M | 27,771.62M | 28,848.20M | 29,453.32M |
| Total liabilities | 14,648.17M | 14,731.70M | 15,431.60M | 15,645.76M | 16,320.93M |
| Total equity | 9,249.13M | 9,473.36M | 11,040.65M | 11,833.26M | 11,817.88M |
| Operating cash flow | 3,737.36M | 4,112.04M | 3,430.08M | 3,644.16M | 3,211.47M |
Valuation Measures
| Dec 2019 | |
| PER | 10.69 |
| ROA | 1.86% |
| ROE | 4.60% |
| Operating margin | 4.62% |
| Profit margin | 2.54% |
Key executives
- Chief Executive Officer & Director: Hyeon-Mo Ku
- Co-President, Director & Head-Management Planning: In-Hwe Kim
- Head-Finance: Il Cho
- Managing Director & Head-AI Tech: Jin-Han Kim
- VP & Head-Information Technology Planning: Soo-Jung Shin
Shareholders
- National Pension Service of Korea (12.5%)
- KT Corp. (6.0%)
- NTT DoCoMo, Inc. (5.4%)
- T. Rowe Price Associates, Inc. (Investment Management) (0.8%)
- APG Asset Management NV (0.4%)
- Mirae Asset Global Investments Co., Ltd. (0.4%)
- KT Corp. Employee Stock Ownership Association (0.4%)
- Capital Research & Management Co. (Global Investors) (0.3%)
- Rockefeller & Co. LLC (0.2%)
- Kopernik Global Investors LLC (0.2%)
Contact Details
- Website:http://www.kt.com
- Address: 90 Buljeong-ro, Bundang-gu, Seongnam-si, 13606, South Korea
- Phone: +82.31.727.0114
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- KT Capital Corp. (South Korea) /Investment Business/
- kt-SB data service Co., Ltd.
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- KTSC Investment Management BV
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- Bluecord Technology
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Competitors
- SK Telecom Co., Ltd.
- LG Uplus Corp
- Kakao Corp.
- Samsung Card Co., Ltd
- Shinhan Financial Group Co., Ltd.
- LG HelloVision Corp.
- Taekwang Industrial Co., Ltd.
- Hyundai Futurenet Co., Ltd
- KL-Net Corp
- DB Inc.
- Inscobee, Inc.
- KT Skylife Co., Ltd
- NHN KCP Corp.
- Dreamus Company
- Hanyang Digitech Co., Ltd
- SEOJIN SYSTEM CO.,LTD
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Last Updated on 23 Nov, 2020
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