Hyundai Rotem said on the 12th that 37 executives, including Chief Executive Officer and President Lee Yong-bae, bought about 1.6 billion won worth of company shares.
Hyundai Rotem said this was to practice responsible management for the company's future growth and to enhance shareholder value by securing new growth engines for future businesses, including the core businesses of defense, rail, and plants, at the institutional sector level.
For this share purchase, Hyundai Rotem executives voluntarily bought shares using personal funds. The purchase totaled 8,683 shares, worth about 1.6 billion won. It is the first time in 10 years, since 2016, that Hyundai Rotem management has bought shares across the company. Back then, as the stock price continued to fall due to deteriorating business performance, management bought company shares to signal to the market their intent to support the share price.
This share buy is intended to signal that management will take responsibility for the company's future growth. Recently, Hyundai Rotem has been on a growth track. Last year, it posted 1 trillion won in operating profit for the first time since its founding. Since the overseas export program for K2 tanks began in earnest in 2023, revenue and operating profit have grown an average of 27.6% and 118.7% annually over two years. As of the first quarter this year, its order backlog is nearing 30 trillion won.
Hyundai Rotem plans to invest more than 1.8 trillion won in research and development (R&D) across all business divisions, future businesses, and facilities through 2028. Through Physical artificial intelligence (AI) technology, it plans to advance unmanned technologies for manned-unmanned combined weapons systems and unmanned robot technologies to meet future battlefield environments. It is also developing methane engines for reusable space launch vehicles and guided-weapon products to build capabilities in the aerospace business.
A Hyundai Rotem official said the company will enhance shareholder value through bold, preemptive management activities to respond to changes in future businesses.