reports
- Chris Hoare
SK Telecom (Buy, TP: KRW 116,000, +120%) New shareholder return polic...
SK Telecom has issued its new shareholder return policy for the next three years (2024-2026), at least 50% of adjusted consolidated net profit in the form of dividends and share repurchases. The headline figure is somewhat underwhelming, but is now a minimum rather than a cap and could be the first of more initiatives to come as a result of the "Value-up" programme in Korea. Our thoughts below.
- Chris Hoare
- Chris Hoare
Asia Telco Tour Feedback, Improving growth, ROCE and shareholder remun...
We ran our Asia Telco tour last week. This time we met 12 companies in 3 countries (Korea, Japan, Thailand). Telco share prices in all 3 of these countries have been pretty strong recently as telcos continue to benefit from generally positive themes: growth, return on capital and shareholder remuneration are all typically improving.
- Chris Hoare
South Korean Telcos Takeaways from Meetings with the Korean Telcos in...
We met with all 3 of the Korean Telcos in Seoul over the last couple of days. All 3 are committed to engaging with and following the government “Value-up” programme, with the industry having started to become more shareholder friendly 2-3 years ago. We see the potential for higher industry returns (lower capex, opex) as well as better shareholder remuneration. Change will take time, but patient investors are set to do well from Korea as the market finally finds its place in the sun we think. Top...
- Chris Hoare
South Korean Telcos Q4 23 review: EBITDA improved despite softer serv...
South Korean operators were slower across the board at service revenue on softer Fixed growth, although mobile and Enterprise kept pace. Both LG and SKT saw an acceleration in Enterprise this quarter as the former opened a new DC in Q4. Both SKT and KT saw improvements in EBITDA while LG was pressured by higher labour costs.
- Chris Hoare
SK Telecom (Buy, TP: KRW 116,000, +130%) Q4 23 Quick Take: Better top...
SKT delivered better results today as topline growth accelerated off Enterprise and margins improved again. Shareholder remuneration continues to improve as the company also announced its final quarterly dividend at KRW 3,540 taking full year’s dividends to KRW 766bn, an increase of 5.8% from last year.
- Chris Hoare
South Korean Telcos Outlook 2024; Government interference overshadowi...
2023 saw Govt interference in industry pricing, competition and management offsetting good fundamentals. With elections in April this may continue near term. However, despite this the industry continues to grow cash flow, which should also continue, and taking a slightly longer perspective shows that KT and SKT (although not LG U-Plus) are still trending higher.
- Chris Hoare
South Korean Telcos Q3 23 review: Better trends in core mobile and En...
South Korean telco saw a slower quarter as improvements at SKT and LG were offset by KT’s slowdown, attributable to its subsidiaries (slower BC Card, declines at Content and Skylife). Nevertheless, core mobile and Enterprise trends improved, with broadband stable.
- Chris Hoare
- Chris Hoare
- Chris Hoare
- David Lopes
South Korean Telcos Q2 23 review: Lifted by non-mobile; easing capex ...
Aggregate service revenue were lifted by KT’s non-mobile performance this quarter, with strong EBITDA growth from both KT and LG owing to well controlled labour and service costs. Encouragingly too, 1H23 aggregate capex intensity was lower (12.6% vs. 13.5% last year) despite a focus on AI investments recently.
- Chris Hoare
SK Telecom (Buy, TP: KRW 116,000, +148%) Q2 23 Quick Take: Slower top...
SKT delivered slower topline growth driven by weaker mobile revenue growth off a steeper ARPU decline in Q2. As a result, EBITDA growth slowed to 0.9% YoY but was within expectations as weaker topline growth was offset by lower labour and commissions cost.
- Chris Hoare
South Korean Telcos Government announced to improve competitive struc...
Today, South Korea's Ministry of Science and ICT ("MSIT") unveiled plans aimed at lowering the average household mobile spending, by encouraging lower mobile price plans and fostering greater mobile competition through 1) incentivising a fourth mobile operator, 2) promoting MVNO competitiveness through wholesale provisions and 3) raising the subsidy cap on Mobile Device Distribution Act from 15% to 30%
- Chris Hoare
South Korean Telcos Q1 23 review: Sustained top-line, slower EBITDA
South Korean carriers delivered LSD service revenue growth again, driven off mobile and Enterprise, with EBITDA lighter than previous quarters. Service revenue grew 2.9% (Q4: 3%) while EBITDA growth slowed to 1.8% YoY, dragged by both KT and LG. Mobile ARPU trend remains positive, with 5G penetration (off handset base) at 61%.
- Chris Hoare
- David Lopes
EM Telcos Validating the Enterprise thesis
In this note we revisit and update our thesis that Enterprise in EM is following an S-Curve. Key new work shows that as a result, absolute incremental Enterprise revenue in China has doubled each year for the past 3 years. This is why overall Telco revenues have sharply accelerated. We show the other countries/ stocks where the early signs are of the same thing happening.
SK Telecom Co Ltd: 1 director
A director at SK Telecom Co Ltd sold 1,004 shares at 50,190.837KRW and the significance rating of the trade was 52/100. Is that information sufficient for you to make an investment decision? This report gives details of those trades and adds context and analysis to them such that you can judge whether these trading decisions are ones worth following. Included in the report is a detailed share price chart which plots discretionary trades by all the company's directors over the last two years cl...
- Chris Hoare
SK Telecom (Buy, TP: KRW 116,000, +134%) Q1 23 Quick Take: In-line re...
SKT’s Q1 revenue (+2.2% YoY) was relatively in line with expectations. However, lower labour and interconnect costs contributed to an EBITDA (+3.6% YoY) beat by 0.9%, which translates to 32.7% EBITDA margin – the highest margin in recent years.
- Chris Hoare
South Korean Telcos Q4 22 review: Slower top-line, better EBITDA tren...
South Korean carriers closed off the year with a slightly slower quarter but better margins. Service revenue eased to 3% as improvement in mobile and enterprise offset the slowdown in broadband. EBITDA trend was better for KT and LG but flat for SKT. FY22 shareholder remuneration was commendable - 42% pay-out for LG (from 35%); 40% of OpFCF for SKT as guided. Moreover, SKT also flagged a likely share buyback in the future.
- Chris Hoare
SK Telecom (Buy, TP: KRW 112,000, +139%) Q4 22 Quick Take: Disappoint...
SKT reported Q4 results today. Overall revenue growth was slightly behind expectations as it slowed to 2.2% YoY, driven by slower mobile and a decline from SK Broadband. EBITDA missed consensus by 4.9% on higher COGS, offsetting the cost efficiencies within its network and leased line costs. Dividend pay-out was as expected but on the positive side during the call the company flagged a likely buyback, while guidance for 2023 was in line with consensus.
- Chris Hoare
- David Lopes
New Street: Korean Telcos Outlook 2023; Expect another good year
2022 was a good year for the Korean Telcos, and we think 2023 will be too. 5G should continue to drive ARPU upside on the consumer mobile side, while Enterprise, Datacentre and Content revenues should also be strong. KT is our top pick, and we think has the potential to double over time.
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