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JONBUR Research · Initiation

Lotte Himart · 071840 · Retail & Trade

Lotte Himart: Thin Operating Margins, Losses and a Share Price Near Its 52-Week Low

Why this report

Start of coverage: written when a reader opened this company and there was no report yet.

Lotte Himart (KOSPI: 071840) closed at ₩5,910 on 2026-10-19, down 21.7% over one year and close to its 52-week low of ₩5,680. Filed financials show shrinking revenue, a trailing operating loss and net losses, while the stock trades at 0.2x book value with a 5.1% dividend yield.

Written Oct 20, 2026 · Data as of Oct 19, 2026 · 0 views

This is not financial advice. The report does not recommend buying or selling anything.

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Thesis

The data supports a picture of a company with a steady sales decline and almost no operating profit. Revenue fell from ₩3.87T in 2021 to ₩2.30T in 2025, and trailing twelve-month revenue to H1 2026 is ₩2.26T. Operating margin has stayed between -1.6% and 2.8% over the period and is -0.2% on a trailing basis.

On the other side, trailing free cash flow is positive at ₩160.3B, the liabilities-to-equity ratio is 106.5%, and the price-to-book ratio is 0.2x. The data does not show whether the trailing losses are narrowing or why free cash flow is positive, and no guidance or earnings forecasts are available. Filings in July 2026 show a change of representative director and a change in the largest shareholder's holdings, but the data gives no detail on their effect.

Business overview

Lotte Himart is a KOSPI-listed company in the Retail & Trade sector. It was founded on 1987-07-01 and listed on 2011-06-29, with 23,607,712 listed shares. The CEO is listed as 김종윤. Market capitalisation is about ₩139.5B.

Revenue has fallen every year in the data: -13.8% in 2022, -21.8% in 2023, -9.7% in 2024 and -2.4% in 2025. A recent Newsis headline (2026-10-14) says the company is promoting a vacuum cleaner trial offer aimed at autumn moving-season demand. The data gives no segment breakdown.

Financial analysis

These figures come from filed financial statements. Annual revenue was ₩3.87T in 2021, ₩3.34T in 2022, ₩2.61T in 2023, ₩2.36T in 2024 and ₩2.30T in 2025.

Operating income was ₩106.8B in 2021 and a loss of ₩52.0B in 2022. It was ₩8.2B in 2023, ₩1.7B in 2024 and ₩9.6B in 2025. Net income was negative in every year shown, including losses of ₩527.9B in 2022 and ₩305.4B in 2024, and a small loss of ₩2.4B in 2025.

Trailing twelve months to H1 2026: revenue ₩2.26T, operating loss ₩3.6B (margin -0.2%), net loss ₩24.6B (margin -1.1%) and ROE -2.7%. Free cash flow is ₩160.3B, cash is ₩113.6B and the liabilities-to-equity ratio is 106.5%. Borrowings are not available in the data.

Valuation

The price-to-book ratio is 0.2x, the same as at the end of each year from 2022 to 2025 and slightly below 0.3x at the end of 2021. Price-to-sales is 0.1x and the dividend yield is 5.1%. P/E and EV/EBITDA are not available because of the losses. Enterprise value is about ₩25.9B.

Selected peers show P/B of 0.4x for Samsung C&T, 1.4x for POSCO International, 5.8x for ISC, 0.7x for Youngone and 0.5x for Shinsegae. Lotte Himart's P/B is below all of them, but these are different businesses and the comparison is limited.

No valuation model estimate is available (fair_value_model is null), so there is no comparison between a model estimate and the ₩5,910 share price.

Catalysts

  • The half-year report and preliminary earnings were filed in August 2026, and the next earnings filings will show whether the trailing operating loss narrows.
  • A change of representative director and an extraordinary shareholders' meeting were reported on 2026-07-31, which could affect strategy, though the data gives no details.
  • A change in the largest shareholder's holdings was filed on 2026-07-31.
  • The company's autumn moving-season vacuum promotion, reported by Newsis on 2026-10-14, may show up in demand for home appliances.
  • The 5.1% dividend yield could draw attention if payouts continue, though the data does not confirm future dividends.

Risks

  • Revenue has declined in each of the past four years, and the trailing figure of ₩2.26T is below 2025's ₩2.30T.
  • Trailing operating income is negative at -₩3.6B, leaving little buffer against cost pressure.
  • Net losses were recorded in every year from 2021 to 2025 and in the trailing period, including large losses in 2022 and 2024.
  • The share price is down 21.7% over one year and sits near its 52-week low of ₩5,680, and foreign investors were net sellers over the last 20 days.
  • Liabilities are 106.5% of equity, and borrowings data is not available to assess debt in detail.

Closing view

The data shows a company with a long revenue decline, near-zero operating profit and repeated net losses, valued at a low 0.2x book value with a 5.1% dividend yield. Positive trailing free cash flow and the low valuation are offsets, but the data does not show a clear improvement in earnings. No model estimate is available, so the evidence is mixed and incomplete, and this is not a recommendation.

Model estimate of fair value

The valuation model has no estimate for this company yet (not enough data, or no positive value with the base case).

Filings and data used

Report history

  1. Oct 20, 2026InitiationStart of coverage (reader request)Lotte Himart: Thin Operating Margins, Losses and a Share Price Near Its 52-Week Low

Built only from jonbur's own data: prices and investor flows, filed financial statements and filings, and news headlines. Disclosed (filed) data is labelled as such. Written by AI and may contain mistakes.

This is not financial advice. The report does not recommend buying or selling anything.

Source: KRX statistical information