iM Financial Group announced strong first-quarter performance that exceeded market expectations and recorded its highest price in a year during trading on the 29th.
According to the Korea Exchange, as of 9:54 a.m. on this day, iM Financial Group was trading at 10,120 won, up 470 won (4.87%) from the previous trading day. iM Financial Group rose to 10,150 won early in the session, setting a new record high for the year.
The day before, iM Financial Group noted in a public disclosure that it recorded a net profit of 154.3 billion won in the first quarter, an increase of 38.1% compared to the same period last year. The significant turnaround of iM Securities, which was in the red in the first quarter of last year, played a big role.
Kim Eung-gap, an analyst at Kiwoom Securities, said, "While we expected that the performance in 2025 would improve significantly due to base effects, it appears that the turnaround occurred one to two quarters earlier than expected."
Eun Gyeong-wan, an analyst at Shinhan Investment Corp., also analyzed that "iM Financial Group's first-quarter net income attributable to shareholders exceeded our estimate and the consensus by 2.4% and 8.0%, respectively," adding, "The turnaround in iM Securities' performance and stable management of credit costs have driven the strong results." He continued, "With the resolution of the real estate project financing (PF) risks that had been holding back the stock price and performance, this year will mark the end of three years of declining profits and the beginning of normalizing performance." Shinhan Investment Corp. recommended iM Financial Group as its top pick in the banking sector.