Korea Information & Communications, founded in 1986, is a value-added network (VAN) operator: when a customer swipes a card at a store, it relays the authorization request to the card company and returns the response, and the fees from this relay account for about 97% of revenue, so it earns money in proportion to the number of card swipes - a payment-infrastructure company. In March it declared a dividend of ₩290 per share (a dividend yield of 3.73%) and issued a corporate value-up plan; in May it confirmed a recovery with Q1 revenue of ₩216.2 billion (+12.3%) and operating profit of ₩11.0 billion (+8.6%); and in June it contributed 300,000 treasury shares to the employee stock ownership association at no cost. What stands out recently is that its recurring fee revenue tied to card-payment counts, a solid balance sheet with a debt ratio of 52.6% and interest coverage of 48x, and a valuation of 7.46x P/E, 0.81x P/B, and a forward P/E of 6.80x - well below the payment-gateway-oriented NHN KCP (P/E 11.45x) - are strengths; on the other hand, net profit can swing quarter to quarter with the investment gains and losses of its venture-investment arm, and the value-up disclosure stopping at direction without concrete numbers remains a matter to verify.
At-a-glance assessment financial health · growth · profitability · valuation
- Debt ratio, current ratio and interest burden all look healthy.
- Revenue rose 5.7% year over year, and the pace is slowing (3-year trend: rising).
- Most recent quarter (Q1 2026) revenue was 12.3% higher than a year earlier.
- Even versus the prior quarter (Q4 2025), revenue was 2.1% lower.
- ROE is 10.9% (controlling-interest basis). It is above the sector average.
- Operating margin is 5.4%.
- The forward P/E sits below the sector median.
Ownership & governance As of 2025-12-31
Largest shareholder Park Hun-seo 21.54% (individual)
Controlling bloc incl. related parties 42.74%
With the controlling bloc holding 43%, the ownership structure is stable.
🔎 In-depth analysis
- Korea Information & Communications, founded in 1986, is a value-added network (VAN) operator.
- When a customer swipes a credit card at a terminal in a restaurant or store, the company runs the 'intermediary network' that sends the transaction authorization request to the card company and returns the response to the merchant.
- The fees earned on each of these authorization relays make up about 97% of revenue - nearly all of it - while card-terminal supply is about 2.5%, and the remainder comes from operating an SME startup-investment fund and a healthcare business.
- In other words, this company does not sell a particular product but earns money in proportion to 'the number of card swipes', a payment-infrastructure company whose revenue grows as card spending steadily rises.
- The latest closing price is ₩7,560 and the market cap is ₩283.1 billion.
- The price sits above the 20-day line (₩7,542) and below the 60-day line (₩9,245).
- The short- and mid-term trends diverge, so direction should be read separately.
- The RSI (an auxiliary gauge that compares upward and downward strength over the past 14 days on a 0-100 scale) is 43.5, a neutral level.
- The one-month change is +0.7%, the three-month change is -1.8%, and the position versus the 52-week high is -52.5%.
- Relative strength versus the KOSDAQ is 74 (on a 1-99 scale, computed from returns against the index over the past year with more weight on recent performance; higher means stronger than the market).
- That places it in roughly the top 26% of all stocks by strength.
- Over the past three months it outpaced the index by 32.0%.
- Chart reading is best done alongside trading volume and disclosure dates.
- The P/E ratio (how many times one year's profit the price represents) is 7.73x and the P/B (how many times the company's net assets the price represents) is 0.84x, so the price is on the cheap side relative to both profit and assets.
- The ROE (how much is earned in a year on equity) is 10.9%, sound profitability for the payment-infrastructure sector, and it maintains an operating margin of 5.4% and a net margin of 4.4%.
- The debt ratio (debt versus equity) is low at 52.6%, the current ratio is 239%, and the interest coverage ratio (how many times operating profit can cover interest) is 48x, so its capacity to service debt is ample and the balance sheet is stable.
- One point to note is that the P/E above is on a 'confirmed-last-year-profit (trailing)' basis.
- Net profit in 2025 fell 16% year over year, but this is not because the core business worsened; it reflects a base effect from an unusually high 2024 net profit (₩43.6 billion).
- Operating profit grew +15.6% in 2025 and +8.6% in Q1 2026, so core earnings power is if anything strengthening.
- The forward P/E of 6.80x and forward P/B of 0.75x on this year's expected profit are even lower than the trailing figures, so factoring in profit returning to a normal track makes the valuation appeal clearer still.
- Over the past five years revenue grew from ₩54.0 billion to ₩83.6 billion, an average of about 11.5% a year, and operating profit rose steadily from ₩23.6 billion to ₩45.2 billion.
- The 2025 revenue growth rate slowed a beat to +5.7%, but Q1 2026 revenue came back to double digits at +12.3% year over year, a re-acceleration of growth.
- Operating profit continued to rise at +8.6% in Q1, and jumped +83% versus the immediately prior quarter (Q4 2025).
- Only net profit fell -16% in 2025, owing to the 2024 peak base seen earlier, and Q1 net profit held at the prior-year level (+0.9%).
- Behind the forward P/E of 6.80x on this year's expected profit coming out lower than the confirmed trailing P/E is the picture of card-payment counts, the revenue driver, growing solidly, operating profit continuing double-digit growth, and net profit - temporarily suppressed - being restored to normal.
- Given the business trait that authorization counts grow in proportion to card spending, as long as payment traffic holds up, the foundation for profit growth is solid.
- In 2026, disclosures related to shareholder returns came one after another.
- In March, it declared a 2025 year-end cash dividend (₩290 per share, dividend yield 3.73%, total dividend about ₩10.2 billion), continuing a steady cash-return stance, and in the same month issued a voluntary corporate value-up (value-up) plan, signaling a performance-disclosure framework centered on management-efficiency metrics.
- That value-up disclosure, however, did not contain future revenue or profit targets or a concrete shareholder-return ratio, so it reads as a step that laid out direction.
- In May, the Q1 report confirmed a recovery with revenue of ₩216.2 billion (+12.3%) and operating profit of ₩11.0 billion (+8.6%), and in June it decided to contribute 300,000 treasury shares to the employee stock ownership association at no cost, using treasury stock in a way that raises employee-held stakes.
- This company's strengths are clear.
- With recurring, predictable fee revenue tied to card-payment counts, the core business is steady, and with a solid balance sheet (debt ratio 52.6%, current ratio 239%, interest coverage 48x), an ROE of 10.9%, and a dividend yield of 3.7%, its undervalued, high-dividend character is pronounced.
- On top of a P/E of 7.46x and P/B of 0.81x, the forward P/E of 6.80x on this year's expected profit is well below the payment-gateway-oriented NHN KCP (P/E 11.45x), which carries a high valuation - so whether viewed by assets, profit, or dividend, it reads as undervalued.
- At the same time, the Q1 revenue recovery of +12.3% and rising operating profit show the growth engine has not cooled.
- There are points to examine as well.
- The price is in a weak trend below all its moving averages, net profit can swing quarter to quarter with the investment gains and losses of the venture-investment arm, and the value-up disclosure stopping at direction without concrete numbers is a next-step matter to verify.
- In short, its undervaluation appeal shines 'when card spending and payment traffic grow solidly and the shareholder-return promise is made concrete in numbers', while earnings volatility comes to the fore 'when variables such as investment gains/losses or fee-rate regulation overlap'.
🔎 Valuation vs peers Undervalued
A direct peer set of card-payment-infrastructure (VAN/PG) businesses. Nice Information & Telecommunication runs the same VAN business, while NHN KCP is centered on online payment gateway (PG).
| Peer | P/E | P/B | ROE |
|---|---|---|---|
| NICE Information & Telecommunication | 7.02x | 0.76x | 10.83% |
| NHN KCP | 10.86x | 1.67x | 15.38% |
It sits at almost the same valuation and profitability level as fellow VAN operator Nice Information & Telecommunication (P/E 6.6x, P/B 0.71x, ROE 10.8%), an average position within the same business group. Compared with NHN KCP (P/E 13x, P/B 2.0x, ROE 15.4%), which is centered on payment gateway (PG) with higher growth, its P/E and P/B are discounted to about half, a gap that appears to reflect the growth ceiling on VAN fees and the volatility of venture-investment gains and losses. The confirmed trailing P/E of 7.8x uses 2025 net profit as the denominator, which is suppressed versus the 2024 peak, so there is a limit to it as an inflection-phase figure; the forward P/E, factoring in rising operating profit and the Q1 revenue recovery, is lower and thus slightly cheaper than the trailing basis. On balance, it is in the average-to-discounted zone versus peers - clearly undervalued relative to assets and dividend, though a growth premium is hard to expect.
Price history Close · MA20 · MA60
The latest close is ₩7,560 and the market capitalization is ₩283.1 billion. The price sits above its 20-day moving average (₩7,542) and below its 60-day moving average (₩9,245). Short-term and medium-term trends are diverging, so the direction is best read separately. The RSI (a supplementary indicator that gauges the strength of gains versus losses over the past 14 days on a 0-100 scale) is 43.5, a neutral level. The one-month change is +0.7%, the three-month change is -1.8%, and the position relative to the 52-week high is -52.5%. Relative strength versus the KOSDAQ is 74 (on a 1-99 scale, converted from returns against the index over the past year with more weight on recent performance; higher means stronger than the market). It is stronger than roughly 74% of all stocks. Over the past three months it outpaced the index by 32.0%. Chart interpretation is best done alongside trading volume and the dates on which disclosures occur.
Relative performance stock vs index · start = 100
Excess return vs index · 3M +32.02% / 6M +16.25% / 12M -22.45%
Key metrics vs sector median
Valuation
The P/E of 7.73x is below the sector median (12.21x). The P/B is 0.84x.
Enterprise value (EV)
EV = market cap + net debt. It reflects cash and debt, so it captures the real cost of the whole business that market cap alone misses; lower multiples are cheaper relative to earnings or sales.
Profitability & financials
Return on equity (ROE) is 10.9%, above the sector average (9.0%). The operating margin is 5.4%. The debt ratio is 52.6%, so the financial structure is stable.
Growth FY2025 · annual report (consolidated)
| Item | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | YoY |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $480.6M | $524.2M | $554.3M | +5.73% ↓ slower |
| Operating profit | $23.6M | $25.9M | $30.0M | +15.60% ↑ faster |
| Net profit | $19.9M | $28.9M | $24.3M | -15.99% ↓ slower |
| 5-year | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $358.1M | $394.7M | $480.6M | $524.2M | $554.3M |
| Operating profit | $15.6M | $17.9M | $23.6M | $25.9M | $30.0M |
| Net profit | $7.1M | $14.5M | $19.9M | $28.9M | $24.3M |
| Revenue CAGR | 4-yr avg 11.54% | ||||
Revenue rose 5.7% year over year (2023 ₩725.1 billion → 2024 ₩791.0 billion → 2025 ₩836.3 billion), and the three-year trend is 'rising'. That said, the pace of growth slowed from the prior year. Operating profit rose 15.6% year over year. Profit is growing at an accelerating pace. Over the 5 years on record, revenue compound annual growth (CAGR) is 11.5%. The two-year revenue CAGR is 7.4%. In the most recent quarter (Q1 2026), revenue was 12.3% higher than the same period a year earlier. Because quarterly results are relatively even in this industry, revenue also came in 2.1% lower than the prior quarter (Q4 2025), so the recent trend looks soft.
Latest quarterly results Q1 2026 · vs year-ago + prior quarter
Technical indicators
What stands out
- P/E and P/B are both low versus peers, so the price looks inexpensive relative to earnings and assets.
- The dividend yield, at 3.8%, is on the high side.
- ROE of 10.9% points to solid profitability.
- The balance sheet is stable in terms of debt and liquidity.
Points to watch
- Revenue rose 5.7% year over year, and the pace is slowing (3-year trend: rising).
Recent news & events searched · sourced
- 2026-06-02UpdateDecision to contribute 300,000 treasury shares to the employee stock ownership association at no cost (2026-06-09 to 06-15, transfer-in price ₩7,910).Short term: a shareholder-return nature via expanded employee stakes, though with no new cash inflow. Medium term: a stable governance aspect through employee incentives. Source
- 2026-03-20FilingVoluntary corporate value-up (value-up) disclosure - signaling a performance-disclosure framework centered on management-efficiency metrics. Concrete revenue/profit targets or a shareholder-return ratio are not included.Medium term: an expression of intent to improve shareholder returns and governance, but with numbers missing, the strength of execution needs later confirmation. Source
- 2026-03-03Dividend2025 year-end cash dividend decision - ₩290 per common share, dividend yield 3.73%, total dividend about ₩10.2 billion, record date 2025-12-31.Short and medium term: a steady cash return at a dividend yield of about 3.7%, maintaining a high-dividend character. Source
- 2026-05-13EarningsQ1 2026 report - cumulative revenue ₩216.2 billion (+12.3% YoY), operating profit ₩11.0 billion (+8.6%), net profit ₩8.6 billion (+0.9%).Short term: the revenue growth rate recovers to double digits again and the rise in operating profit is maintained. Source
Figure cross-check computed ↔ external
| Metric | Computed | External | Status | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dividend per share / dividend yield | DPS ₩290,x 3.82% | ₩290, 3.73% | Confirmed | link |
| Q1 2026 revenue growth rate | revenue 2,161.6, +12.35% | (2026.03) | Confirmed | link |
| Treasury-share disposal (no-cost contribution to the employee stock ownership association) size | base 2026-06-02 | 300,000, , ₩7,910 | Confirmed | link |
| Forward P/E based on estimated 2026 net profit | self-estimate forward PER 7.4 | — | Unverified | link |
Recent filings
- 2026-06-02TreasuryMaterial-fact report
- 2026-05-13PeriodicQuarterly report
- 2026-03-20Disclosure
- 2026-03-20Disclosure
- 2026-03-20Shareholders' meeting notice
- 2026-03-19OwnershipOwnership-change filing
- 2026-03-19OwnershipLargest-shareholder ownership change report (amended)
- 2026-03-12PeriodicAnnual business report
- 2026-03-10Audit report
- 2026-03-04Shareholders' meeting notice
- 2026-03-03Shareholders' meeting notice
- 2026-03-03DividendCash/stock dividend decision
📖 Plain-language glossary — expand if you are new to this
- P/E
- How many times a year's net profit the price is worth (lower is cheaper relative to earnings). The P/E here is on trailing (last full-year) results; for companies whose earnings swing fast (memory chips and other cyclicals/high-growth), a forward P/E on this year's expected earnings is more accurate.
- P/B
- Price relative to net assets (equity). Around 1x means it trades near book value; below 1x means below book.
- P/S
- Price relative to a year's revenue — useful for growth companies with thin earnings.
- Net debt / EV
- Net debt = interest-bearing debt − cash. Negative means more cash than debt (net cash). EV (enterprise value) = market cap + net debt, closer to what it would cost to buy the whole business.
- EV/EBIT · EV/EBITDA · EV/Sales
- Enterprise value against operating profit (EBIT), EBITDA, or revenue. Unlike P/E these reflect debt and cash; lower is cheaper relative to earnings power or sales.
- FCF / FCF yield
- Free cash flow = operating cash − capex, the cash actually left over. FCF yield = FCF ÷ market cap; higher means more cash generated per unit of market value.
- Intrinsic value (DCF)
- Future free cash flow (or, for some capex-heavy but profitable names, forecast earnings) discounted to today to estimate per-share value. Because it shifts a lot with the discount-rate and growth assumptions, it is shown as a bear/base/bull range, and the basis and assumptions are disclosed in one line beneath it.
- ROE
- How much profit the company earns in a year on its equity (%). Higher means better returns on capital.
- EPS / BPS
- Earnings per share / net assets (book value) per share.
- Operating / net margin
- Profit left from the core business / final profit after tax and interest, per unit of revenue.
- Debt ratio
- Debt relative to equity (%). Higher means more reliance on borrowing (norms vary by sector).
- Current ratio
- Assets convertible to cash within a year against debt due within a year. Above 100% leaves some short-term headroom.
- Interest coverage
- How many times operating profit covers the interest owed. Below 1x means operating profit alone struggles to cover interest.
- Dividend yield / payout ratio
- The year's dividend as a % of today's price / the share of earnings paid out as dividends.
- Revenue CAGR
- Multi-year growth expressed as a single yearly average (compound annual growth rate).
- RSI (short-term signal)
- Whether recent price action is overheated or beaten down. Above 70 is overbought, below 30 oversold.
- MA20 / MA60 (moving averages)
- The 20- and 60-day average price. Price above them signals a firmer short-term trend.
- vs 52-week high
- How far below the past year's peak the price sits now (%).
All figures are for reference only; how they read varies by sector and over time.
Sources: Korea FSC market-price API (data.go.kr), OpenDART, KRX/KIND — public data only.
Bong Stocks presents public-data-based information for reference only. It is not investment advice and contains no target prices, ratings, or buy/sell recommendations. Verify independently before making any decision.