In today’s briefing:
- Korea’s Next Policy Momentum Play: Rapid Unfolding of the National Growth Fund
- Ecopro BM: Another Major Rechargeable Battery Play With A Sharp Improvement In Earnings in 2Q 2025
- Korean Banks; Keep Buy on Hana (086790 KS), Take Profits on Woori (316140 KS)
- SK Biopharmaceuticals (326030 KS): Momentum Accelerates With Record High Q2 Profit
Korea’s Next Policy Momentum Play: Rapid Unfolding of the National Growth Fund
- From a trading view, no confirmed new ETFs under the National Growth Fund yet; market expects existing ETFs to be the main liquidity and sector play tools instead.
- Out of the KRW 150tn, ETF flows likely come from the 100tn private pool—conservative case: ~3% (KRW 4.5tn), base case: 5–7%, aggressive: up to 10% (KRW 15tn).
- Even conservatively, about KRW 3 trillion could flow into sector ETFs, a signficant AUM boost, mainly concentrated in AI, defense, aerospace, and biotech—driving notable inflow impact.
Ecopro BM: Another Major Rechargeable Battery Play With A Sharp Improvement In Earnings in 2Q 2025
- Ecopro BM reported net profit of 34.3 billion won (up 397% YoY and TB YoY in 2Q25). Profits from its Indonesian investment also contributed to earnings, reaching 40.5 billion won.
- The European EV market started to turn around in 2Q 2025 driven by OEM new car launches and customer inventory normalization compared to the end of 2024.
- There are increasing signs of a positive turnaround at Ecopro BM. The company’s excellent results in 2Q 2025 are likely to result in higher earnings revisions by the consensus.
Korean Banks; Keep Buy on Hana (086790 KS), Take Profits on Woori (316140 KS)
- We stick with Hana Financial as our sole buy in Korean banks; even though it does not top our proprietary scorecard, it remains attractively valued and its returns are improving
- We downgrade Woori to a neutral from a buy, with Woori now trading at a PBV premium to Hana; historically, this has been an indicator of future poor share performance
- KB Financial ranks top in our scorecard; KB is one watch, but remains a neutral due to limited appeal in terms of valuation
SK Biopharmaceuticals (326030 KS): Momentum Accelerates With Record High Q2 Profit
- SK Biopharmaceuticals (326030 KS) (SKBP) reported record high second quarter earnings in 2Q25 on surging U.S. sales of Xcopri, which surpassed quarterly revenue of $100M for the first time.
- During 2Q25, revenue increased 32% YoY and 22% QoQ to KRW176B, while operating profit improved at a faster pace of 138% YoY and 141% QoQ to KRW62B.
- For 2025, SKBP maintained Xcopri U.S. revenue guidance of $420–450M (~KRW570–610B), up 31–40% YoY. With 1H25 revenue of $201M, the company is expected to meet the target.
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