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Hana targets 50 percent shareholder return by 2027

Published: 27 Feb. 2025, 16:42

SHIN HA-NEE
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Hana Financial Group CEO and Chairman Ham Young-joo speaks during an in-house interview released on Feb. 27. [HANA FINANCIAL GROUP]

Hana Financial Group aims to drive up its undervalued stock price by significantly upping shareholder returns, its chief executive said Thursday.

Chairman and CEO Ham Young-joo said in an in-house interview released Thursday that the financial holding firm aims to raise its total shareholder return from its current 38 percent to 50 percent by 2027 and for its price-to-book (P/B) ratio, 0.45 as of Thursday, to exceed 1. Hana increased its total shareholder return from 26 percent in 2021 to its current level last year.

“My top priority over the past three years has been ‘value-up,’” Ham said.

“Korean financial holding companies remain significantly undervalued, with stocks trading below a price-to-book [P/B] ratio of one,” he continued, attributing the “undervaluation” to the lower shareholder returns of domestic financial firms compared to global peers.

Ham said the group also plans to fix its annual cash dividends and pay out equal dividends every quarter, starting this year, in order to make shareholder returns more predictable, as well as increase the proportion of share buybacks and cancellations.

Hana Financial Group announced on Feb. 4 that it would repurchase and retire 400 billion won ($277 million) in shares, a record amount for the group.

The group also aims to diversify its business portfolio to establish a sustainable profit structure, with a goal of having its nonbanking business take up 30 percent of its total earnings, said Ham.

Hana Financial Group shares rose 30.9 percent throughout last year.

BY SHIN HA-NEE [[email protected]]