KT&G enters era of KRW 6 Trillion annual revenue in 2025, operating profit break KRW 1.3 trillion mark
- Revenue at KRW 6.5796 Trillion, operating profit at KRW 1.3496, 11.4% and 13.5% YoY growth respectively
- Global cigarette revenue surpasses domestic revenue for the first time—Solid growth prospects leads to share price re-rating to KRW 160,000 range
SEOUL, South Korea, Feb. 5, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- KT&G(KRX: 033780) held an earnings call on the 5th to announce 2025 Q4 and annual results as well as 2026 management goals.
KT&G's 2025 Q4 consolidated revenue was KRW 1.7137 trillion and operating profit was KRW 248.8 billion, a YoY growth of 10.1% and 17.1% respectively. Annual revenue grew 11.4% to a historic high of KRW 6.5796 trillion while operating profit rose 13.5% to reach KRW 1.3495 trillion. A one-time labor related cost of KRW 70 billion was incurred, resulting in an adjusted operating profit of KRW 1.4198 trillion a 19,4% YoY increase.
After Kyung-man Bang took office as the CEO, KT&G has implemented core and global business competitiveness reinforcement strategies as well as a profitability-based growth strategies that resulted in record high performance in 2024 as well as last year. KT&G's structural reforms including establishment of global CIC(Company-In-Company) leading to structural growth reinforcement continues to receive positive feedback from the capital market. Meanwhile, share prices reached a new intraday record of KRW 164,000 on the 4rd.
In detail, the global cigarette business broke the revenue, volume, and operating profit record simultaneously, towing the overall performance. The global cigarette business's revenue was KRW 1.8775 trillion, observing a 14.6% YoY growth. The proportion of the global cigarette's revenue in the entire group's cigarette revenue surpassed that of the domestic business for the first time, recording 54.1%. Sales volume and the average unit sales prices, driven by strategic price hikes, both saw double-digit growth.
The NGP(Next Generation Products) business continued the expansion trend through new device and stick launches in domestic and global markets. Revenue rose 13.5% YoY to KRW 890.1 billion while stick sales volume rose by 2% to 14.78 billion sticks.
KT&G presented the guidance for 2026 alongside last year's results. Through the KRW 2.4 trillion CAPEX investment announced in 2023, KT&G's Kazakhstan factory is now in production while the new Indonesian factory, planned to start operations in March, will also contribute to the conversion to a global location manufacturing scheme.
Based on the global manufacturing facility expansion, KT&G plans to reinforce profitability via COGS reduction and strategic price increases in 2026. The company also targets double-digit quantitative and qualitative growth in the global cigarette business through diversifying business models to include OEM and licensing.
KT&G also plans to diversify its NGP business in order to strengthen its core business, the tobacco business. The company plans to move away from the previous notion of NGP, equated to heated tobacco products, and expand the portfolio to include other items including nicotine pouches based on the acquisition of "ASF(Another Snus Factory).
Based on the continued growth of the global cigarettes business, NGP portfolio diversification, market expansion, and other core competitiveness foundations, KT&G has set target for revenue growth at 3~5% and for operating profit at 6~8%.
As announced during the "CEO Investor Day" last September, KT&G plans to maintain total shareholder return at 100% or higher and maintain growth of dividend per share currently at KRW 6,000 this year through measures such as sustaining a dividend payout ratio of 50% or above and flexibly repurchasing shares if it is deemed that share prices are undervalued relative to the long-term intrinsic value.
KT&G CFO Sang-Hak Lee stated that "by moving away from the former export based structure and toward a more direct local business structure, the global cigarette revenue has for the first time surpassed that of the domestic business. Going forward, the company will continue to fortify its global core competitiveness and secure future growth momentum through modern product category and market entry expansion in order to continue Korea's top-tier shareholder return programs."
SOURCE KT&G Corporation
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