Last month, Samchon Nix decided on a 44 trillion won dividend... First announcement of corporate value improvement for 37 companies

Last month, major listed companies such as Samsung Electronics [005930] and SK Hynix [000660] appeared to be actively seeking shareholder returns by announcing large-scale stock purchase and cancellation and cash dividend plans.

According to the Korea Exchange's October monthly corporate value improvement data on the 5th, last month, Samsung Electronics, SK Hynix, Samsung E&A, and Hyundai Motors [005380] announced shareholder return plans, including the cancellation of at least 300 billion won of treasury stocks and cash dividends of up to 30 trillion won.

In detail, last month, SK Hynix announced the purchase of 20 trillion won worth of treasury stock, Samsung E&A decided to acquire 780 billion won worth of shares, and Shinhan Financial Group [055550] and S1 [012750] decided to acquire 450 billion won each.

Among these, Samsung E&A announced that it would cancel treasury stocks worth 690 billion won, Shinhan Financial Group announced that it would cancel 450 billion won worth of treasury stocks, and LG Chem [051910] also announced that it would cancel 300 billion won worth of treasury stocks.

The size of the cash dividend was also large. Samsung Electronics decided to pay cash dividends of about 30 trillion won, SK Hynix decided to pay about 14 trillion won in cash dividends, and Hyundai Motor Company also proposed a cash dividend of about 660 billion won.

Meanwhile, the exchange first released the low PBR list on the 2nd, and announced that if a PBR improvement plan is submitted by the 22nd of last month, 7 trading days before the announcement date, it can be excluded from the public list for one year. Accordingly, there were a total of 62 listed companies that submitted PBR improvement plans by that date.

Among them, a total of 36 listed companies, including 16 on KOSPI and 20 on KOSDAQ, announced plans to improve corporate value, including plans to improve PBR (Price to Book Ratio), for the first time since listing last month.

Last month, a total of 37 listed companies, including these 36, newly announced plans to improve corporate value, and since May 2024, a total of 801 companies, including 375 KOSPI and 426 KOSDAQ companies, have completed the disclosure.

The market capitalization of publicly traded companies was 4308 trillion won, accounting for 83.8% of the total market. The market capitalization of KOSPI publicly traded companies was 88.3% of the KOSPI market.

As of the 30th of last month, the Value Up Index was 2,691.90 points, up 49.8% from the end of last year (1,797.52 points). During the same period, it exceeded the KOSPI index growth rate (36.0%) and KOSPI 200 index growth rate (48.5%) by 13.8% points and 1.3% points, respectively.

The total net assets of 13 value-up exchange traded funds (ETFs) were approximately 3.2 trillion won.

The exchange plans to hold a briefing session on the 25th of this month at its headquarters in Yeouido, Seoul to encourage board members of listed companies to improve corporate value.

At the briefing session, expert presentations will be made on topics such as the role of the board of directors after the revision of the Commercial Act and capital allocation decisions to enhance shareholder value.