On the 12th, Hyundai Motor Securities predicted that as the government's domestic stimulus policy for the second half of the year becomes visible, the business environment will gradually improve for CJ Freshway. It raised the target stock price from the previous 31,000 won to 36,000 won while maintaining an investment opinion of 'buy.' The closing price for CJ Freshway on the previous trading day was 28,750 won.
In the first quarter of last year, the consolidated sales and operating profit of CJ Freshway were 798.6 billion won and 10.6 billion won, respectively, up 9.2% and 1.2% from the previous year.
Ha Hee-ji, a researcher at Hyundai Motor Securities, noted, 'Despite the sluggish dining industry due to the domestic economic downturn, there was solid growth in franchise sales and the institutional sector of the meal provision sector; however, profits remained at a level similar to last year due to seasonal off-peak periods, increased competitive expenses, and the base effect of the resident doctors' strike.'
The food ingredient distribution sector is expected to continue its sales growth going forward. Researcher Ha stated, 'The growth of CJ Freshway's franchise sales is being maintained solidly, which is encouraging, and we will continue operations focused on profitability through the expansion of new contracts.'
The food service sector is expected to show signs of recovery as new contracts, such as the expansion of services in small and medium-sized hospitals and contracts at four sites in Incheon Airport within the leisure and concession sector, emerge starting from the second quarter of this year, with the base of meal services to hospitals decreasing.
Researcher Ha indicated, 'In the future, we expect profit recovery through the expansion of O2O (online-to-offline) and franchise channels in the food ingredient distribution sector, the gradual recovery of some lagging hospital channels, the continuation of new contracts, and efficiency improvements in sales and logistics focused on profitability.'