Over the past month, hotel and leisure stocks rose on expectations of more Chinese tourists, but Ananti alone plunged more than 20%. Unlike most hotel stocks being seen as plays on Chinese tourists, Ananti is regarded as an inter-Korean economic cooperation stock.
Ananti completed the Mount Kumgang resort in 2008 and is still perceived as a North Korea-related stock.
According to the Korea Exchange (KRX) on the 22nd, in the past month (Oct. 20–Nov. 20) on the KOSDAQ market, Ananti's share price fell 23.48%. During this period, the KOSDAQ index rose 1.85%. Looking at the past three months (Aug. 20–Nov. 20), Ananti fell 30.78%.
In particular, considering that hotel stocks have surged in the past month, Ananti's decline stands out even more. Over the past month, GS P&L rose 35.01% and Seobu T&D rose 42.63%. Paradise and Hotel Shilla shares fell, but the declines were limited to single digits.
The recent rise in hotel stocks is thanks to expectations that earnings will improve as Chinese tourists increase. "Visa-free entry for Chinese" kicked off the rebound in hotel stocks. In September, the government allowed visa-free entry for Chinese group tourists.
On top of that, as China-Japan relations worsened, analysis emerged that domestic hotels could benefit as a byproduct. After Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said Japan would intervene with force if a contingency occurred in Taiwan, China-Japan relations deteriorated rapidly. China responded by urging people to refrain from traveling to and studying in Japan.
As forecasts grew that Chinese tourists would choose Korea instead of Japan, hotel stocks rose.
By contrast, Ananti's share price swung in line with the inter-Korean cooperation theme. In particular, right after the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit held in Gyeongju in October, Ananti shares whipsawed. At the time, there was speculation that U.S. President Donald Trump, who visited Korea, might meet Kim Jong-un, the chairman of North Korea's State Affairs Commission, but the meeting did not happen.
Ananti shares, which had surged on hopes for a U.S.-North Korea summit, later plunged. To make matters worse, Ananti's results were also weak. While sales from large projects were sluggish, profitability from operating luxury resorts was also poor. Ananti is currently pushing projects to build new complexes in Jeju Island and Cheongpyeong, Gyeonggi Province, to boost platform (golf, hotels, resorts, etc.) operating performance.
According to the quarterly report released on the 14th, Ananti's cumulative sales on a consolidation basis in the third quarter of this year were 192.5 billion won, down 10.4% from the same period last year.
Ananti's weak results appear largely due to a sharp drop in sales from the sales-of-lots business. On a consolidation basis, third-quarter sales-of-lots revenue was 35.7 billion won, down 36.6% from the same period last year. The share of sales-of-lots within the entire business continued to decline, from 79.5% in 2023 and 26.2% last year to 18.6% this year. Revenue in the other business unit, the operations segment, was 156.8 billion won, down 1.1% from the same period last year.