GS disclosed its corporate value enhancement (Value-up) plan last month, leading all 10 major corporations in Korea, including Samsung, SK, Hyundai Motor, LG, Lotte, POSCO, Hanwha, HD Hyundai, GS, and Shinsegae, to participate in the Value-up announcement.
On the 3rd, the Korea Exchange announced through the 'August monthly corporate value enhancement status' that 49 out of the 115 listed companies from the top 10 groups participated in the announcement. In terms of market capitalization, 51.2% of the total market capitalization of the top 10 listed companies announced a corporate value enhancement plan.
In August, the companies that newly announced corporate value enhancement plans included GS, Youngone, HSAD, and Youngone Holdings. Since the introduction of the relevant system in May of last year, the total number of announcing companies has increased to 162. During the same period, Meritz Financial Group, Hyundai Mobis, and DB Securities submitted periodic announcements, including evaluations of their compliance with the previous year's announcements. In particular, Meritz Financial Group submitted compliance status announcements quarterly a total of six times.
The stock prices of the 162 companies that announced corporate value enhancement plans increased by an average of 31.4% from the beginning of this year up to the end of August. During the same period, the average returns of the listed companies in the KOSPI and KOSDAQ markets exceeded their respective market indices by 1.3 percentage points and 4.1 percentage points. The Korea Value-up Index, composed of companies with excellent corporate value, also rose by 33.2% from the beginning of the year to last month.
As of the end of last month, the total net worth of 12 Value-up exchange-traded funds (ETFs) was 829.4 billion won, a 67% increase from the initial amount of 496.1 billion won set in November of last year.
Repurchases and cancellations of treasury shares also took place in succession. Last month, 27 companies announced stock repurchases, and 25 companies announced stock cancellations, notably including HMM (2.1 trillion won), Meritz Financial Group (551.4 billion won), and NAVER (368.4 billion won), which decided on large-scale stock cancellations.
Meanwhile, Samsung Electronics, the top company by market capitalization, has yet to participate in the Value-up announcement. Within the Samsung Group, only the financial subsidiary Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance has made a Value-up announcement.
A spokesperson for the exchange noted, "The active participation of large companies such as top 10 listed corporations is leading to the establishment of the Value-up program," and expressed hope for its expansion to medium-sized and small enterprises in the future.