Hanjin KAL (180640) 🔎 In-depth
KOSPI · Price as of 2026-08-06 · Updated 2026-08-09
Hanjin KAL is a holding company that owns stakes in Hanjin Group affiliates, including Korean Air. The income the parent earns directly from trademark royalties, real estate, hotels, and IT services is small, and it fills the large share of net profit with equity-method income from its subsidiaries. In 2025 net profit fell from ₩497.0 billion the prior year to ₩155.0 billion on shifts in subsidiary results, but the first quarter of 2026 rebounded clearly, with revenue of ₩69.6 billion (+11.1%), operating profit of ₩13.0 billion (+92.7%), and net profit of ₩85.4 billion (+16.9%). What stands out lately is the need to weigh both sides: strengths such as a solid balance sheet with a 21% debt ratio and equity assets that carry control of Korean Air, against the fact that holding-company net profit swings sharply quarter to quarter by the nature of equity-method accounting and that a contest over stakes tied to management control continues.
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30-second brief
Pulled directly from the computed values below — not a separately written opinion.
What do the SourceComputedEstimateReading tags mean?
Source filings and exchange data · Computed calculated from public data · Estimate our own unverified projection · Reading drafted automatically, then rule-checked. See AI & Automation.
Core valuation metric
This stock's effective sub-sector is “Holding Companies”, a type typically read first through discount to NAV.
A holding company is less a maker of products than a vessel that holds stakes in several subsidiaries. So rather than an earnings multiple, the first lens is the discount to NAV — the market value against the summed worth of everything it owns.
Price against assets alone says little about where the cycle stands. Reading it together with price against this year's expected earnings shows how far profits have recovered.
That said, profitability is currently weak, so this metric is best treated as a rough reference only.
This note explains how each sector is typically valued and is educational context only, not investment advice.
At-a-glance assessment financial health · growth · profitability · valuation
- For financial companies, debt and interest costs are large by the nature of the business, so the debt ratio and interest coverage cannot be read on the same yardstick as an ordinary company.
- Revenue rose 2.1% year over year, and the pace is slowing (3-year trend: rising).
- Most recent quarter (Q1 2026) revenue was 11.1% higher than a year earlier.
- ROE is 4.9% (controlling-interest basis). It is above the sector average.
- Operating margin is -0.4%.
- A sector-metric and in-depth research verdict — see “Valuation vs peers” below for the basis.
Ownership & governance As of 2019-12-31
Largest shareholder Cho Won-tae 6.52% (individual)
Controlling bloc incl. related parties 21.07%
With the controlling bloc holding 21%, control is maintained but the free float is relatively large.
Net asset value (NAV) assessment
💡 How to read a holding company · A holding company owns stakes in several subsidiaries. Its P/E swings with equity-method gains and losses on those stakes, so read it only as a rough guide. P/B is more meaningful because subsidiary stakes sit in equity, but book value carries them at low historical cost (so P/B looks higher than reality). The most accurate view is the price against the market value of those stakes (NAV) ↓
Valued against the net asset value (NAV) of its listed holdings rather than a consolidated P/E — see the in-depth valuation for the detailed basis.
Listed subsidiaries ownership
| Hanjin | 30.2% |
| Korean Air | 29.27% |
| Korean Air | 0.86% |
🔎 In-depth analysis Reading
Hanjin KAL is not a company that directly makes goods or sells services; it is a holding company that owns stakes in Hanjin Group's core affiliates. Its largest asset is a stake of about 31.5% in Korean Air, alongside a stake of about 21.6% in Hanjin Co., which handles overland transport and logistics. Beyond that, it holds the unlisted real-estate company Jungseok Enterprise, a hotel business (including the Seogwipo KAL Hotel), and the trademark royalties (brand royalties) the group uses. As a result, the parent's own revenue is not large (₩298.4 billion in 2025), and most of its profit comes from equity-method income that reflects subsidiary results in proportion to its ownership. For reference, low-cost carrier Jin Air was transferred to Korean Air in 2022 and is now a Korean Air subsidiary, connected to Hanjin KAL indirectly through Korean Air.
The latest close is ₩127,200 and the market capitalization is ₩8.5 trillion. The price sits above its 20-day moving average (₩114,490) and above its 60-day moving average (₩117,083). It holds above both its short- and medium-term moving averages, so the trend looks healthy. The RSI (a supplementary indicator that gauges the strength of gains versus losses over the past 14 days on a 0-100 scale) is 60.5, a neutral level. The one-month change is -4.9%, the three-month change is +16.0%, and the position relative to the 52-week high is -26.5%. Relative strength versus the KOSPI is 54 (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 54% of all stocks. Over the past three months it outpaced the index by 33.0%. Chart interpretation is best done alongside trading volume and the dates on which disclosures occur.
Because it is a holding company, ordinary income-statement metrics do not capture its real value well. The P/E ratio (how many times one year of earnings the price represents) looks high at 48x. But holding-company net profit is driven by subsidiary equity-method income and swings sharply from quarter to quarter, so it is hard to call it expensive on that number alone. There is also an optical distortion: confirmed 2025 net profit (₩155.0 billion) fell sharply from the prior year (₩497.0 billion), shrinking the denominator. The P/B (how many times book net assets the price represents) is 2.48x. However, book equity is carried low at the acquisition cost of the subsidiary stakes, so it does not fully reflect the actual value held. ROE (how much it earns in a year on its equity) is 4.6%. The balance sheet is stable. The debt ratio (debt to equity) is low at 21%, and net debt (total borrowings minus cash) is about ₩365.2 billion. The FCF yield (cash actually generated relative to market cap) is around 1.3%. EV/Sales and EV/EBITDA (enterprise value divided by revenue or by earnings before depreciation and amortization) carry little meaning for a holding company and should be treated only as reference.
Since the parent's revenue is centered on trademark royalties and real estate, it is small in scale, so a holding company's real growth comes from the equity-method income its subsidiaries generate. Revenue rose modestly over the past three years (₩275.7 billion, ₩292.2 billion, ₩298.4 billion). Net profit, by contrast, rises and falls sharply with subsidiary results, climbing to ₩385.1 billion in 2023 and ₩497.0 billion in 2024 before falling to ₩155.0 billion in 2025. That decline is not because the business broke down but because equity-method income and one-off items differ year to year. Indeed, in 2025 a large equity-method loss was booked in one quarter (the third), pressing down annual profit. The trend has been improving again in 2026. First-quarter net profit rose 16.9% year-on-year to ₩85.4 billion, and operating profit rose 92.7% to ₩13.0 billion. Future earnings will be determined by Korean Air's results, the effects of the Asiana integration, and the progress of the low-cost-carrier consolidation centered on Jin Air. Even though last year's trailing P/E looks high, that reflects temporarily reduced earnings, and given this year's recovery it is hard to read straight as a burden.
Most disclosures in the first half of 2026 relate to subsidiaries. In May a subsidiary (a Korean Air affiliate) disclosed a merger decision, part of the low-cost-carrier consolidation combining Jin Air, Air Busan, and Air Seoul around Jin Air. In March and May there were also disclosures of new facility investment by subsidiaries. In April a large-shareholding status report was filed, a matter drawing attention as it ties into the contest over stakes surrounding management control. On May 15 the quarterly report disclosed confirmed first-quarter results, and the regular shareholders' meeting was completed in March. A dividend of ₩360 per share was paid, for a yield of about 0.3%.
Because Hanjin KAL is a holding company, it is more appropriate to view it by the value of the assets it holds (net asset value) than by income-statement or book multiples such as P/E and P/B. The favorable conditions are clear. If Korean Air grows into the country's largest airline through the Asiana integration and the low-cost-carrier consolidation centered on Jin Air is completed, the value of the stakes Hanjin KAL holds grows with them. First-quarter operating profit of +92.7% and net profit of ₩85.4 billion show the recovery in actual numbers. The balance sheet is also sturdy, with a 21% debt ratio. There are cautionary conditions too. Holding-company net profit swings sharply quarter to quarter by the nature of equity-method accounting, so it is hard to pin down a trend from any single quarter's results. A contest over stakes tied to management control also continues, and the direction of that structure affects the share price. Ultimately, when Korean Air's results and the integration go smoothly it is strong, but if the airline cycle turns down or governance uncertainty grows, it is directly exposed to the swings in subsidiary earnings.
🔎 Valuation vs peers Inconclusive
The substantive comparison set is large domestic holding companies (LG, CJ, Lotte Holdings, Hankook & Company); a holding company should be viewed together through the value of the stakes it holds and the holding-company discount.
| Peer | P/E | P/B | ROE |
|---|---|---|---|
| LG Corp. | 21.86x | 0.53x | 1.69% |
| CJ Corporation | 29.70x | 0.80x | 3.47% |
| Hankook & Company | 7.22x | 0.50x | 7.18% |
| Lotte Corporation | — | 0.38x | -10.66% |
The 48x P/E is a number blurred by the fact that holding-company net profit is driven by equity-method income and swings sharply quarter to quarter, and that 2025 earnings temporarily shrank the denominator. It is hard to call the stock expensive on that alone. A holding company should be viewed by the value of the stakes it holds. The market value of its core asset, the roughly 31.5% stake in Korean Air, is about ₩3.3 trillion based on Korean Air's market cap (about ₩10.6 trillion), less than half of Hanjin KAL's ₩7.5 trillion market cap. To that one must add the stake in Hanjin Co. and the value of the unlisted Jungseok Enterprise, the hotels, real estate, and trademarks to get the full picture. What is unusual is that whereas most holding companies such as LG (a P/B of 0.55x), CJ (0.75x), and Lotte Holdings (0.37x) trade at a large discount to net assets, Hanjin KAL trades at a P/B of 2.24x, above the visible value of its listed stakes. This is read as the combined effect of a control premium tied to Korean Air's management control and the supply-demand from the stake contest. In other words, it is hard to see it as a deeply discounted net-asset play like an ordinary holding company. Because the conclusion depends on how one values the unlisted assets and Korean Air's future results, we leave it as inconclusive rather than make a definitive call.
Price history Close · MA20 · MA60
The latest close is ₩127,200 and the market capitalization is ₩8.5 trillion. The price sits above its 20-day moving average (₩114,490) and above its 60-day moving average (₩117,083). It holds above both its short- and medium-term moving averages, so the trend looks healthy. The RSI (a supplementary indicator that gauges the strength of gains versus losses over the past 14 days on a 0-100 scale) is 60.5, a neutral level. The one-month change is -4.9%, the three-month change is +16.0%, and the position relative to the 52-week high is -26.5%. Relative strength versus the KOSPI is 54 (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 54% of all stocks. Over the past three months it outpaced the index by 33.0%. 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 +32.97% / 6M -9.59% / 12M -40.23%
Key metrics Computed vs sector median
Valuation
The P/E of 54.78x is above the sector median (8.18x). The P/B of 2.48x is above the sector median (0.53x). That said, this P/E is based on last year's (trailing) results. With recent quarterly earnings up sharply, the trailing P/E can look higher than it really is, so a precise read is best done on this year's expected (forward) earnings.
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 4.9%, above the sector average (4.0%). The operating margin is -0.4%. The debt ratio is 20.4%, but for financial firms deposits and insurance liabilities count as debt, so it cannot be read on the same yardstick as an ordinary company.
Growth FY2025 · annual report (consolidated)
| Item | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | YoY |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $193.7M | $205.2M | $209.6M | +2.12% ↓ slower |
| Operating profit | $30.1M | $34.6M | -$5.3M | -115.29% ↓ slower |
| Net profit | $270.6M | $349.1M | $108.9M | -68.81% ↓ slower |
| 5-year | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $104.3M | $140.7M | $193.7M | $205.2M | $209.6M |
| Operating profit | -$7.0M | $10.2M | $30.1M | $34.6M | -$5.3M |
| Net profit | $12.1M | $480.4M | $270.6M | $349.1M | $108.9M |
| Revenue CAGR | 4-yr avg 19.07% | ||||
Revenue rose 2.1% year over year (2023 ₩275.7 billion → 2024 ₩292.2 billion → 2025 ₩298.4 billion), and the three-year trend is 'rising'. That said, the pace of growth slowed from the prior year. Operating profit fell 115.3% year over year. The decline widened. Over the 5 years on record, revenue compound annual growth (CAGR) is 19.1%. The two-year revenue CAGR is 4.0%. In the most recent quarter (Q1 2026), revenue was 11.1% higher than the same period a year earlier.
Latest quarterly results Source Q1 2026 · vs year-ago
Technical indicators Computed
What stands out
- —
Points to watch
- Revenue rose 2.1% year over year, and the pace is slowing (3-year trend: rising).
- The price is high versus peers, so expectations already appear priced in.
Recent news & events searched · sourced
- 2026-05-13FilingSubsidiary (Korean Air affiliate) merger decision — related to the low-cost-carrier consolidation centered on Jin AirMedium term: if the economies of scale of the consolidated low-cost carrier are realized, it is positive for the value of Hanjin KAL's holdings through Korean Air. Source
- 2026-05-13FilingSubsidiary decision on new facility investment (revised filing)Medium term: if the subsidiary's capacity expansion translates into results, it is reflected in the parent's net profit through the equity method. Source
- 2026-05-15EarningsQ1 2026 quarterly report filed — revenue ₩69.6 billion, operating profit ₩13.0 billion (+92.7%), net profit ₩85.4 billion (+16.9%)Short term: confirms the figures showing subsidiary recovery reflected in holding-company earnings. Source
- 2026-04-22FilingLarge-shareholding status report filed — notice of a change in stakesShort and medium term: related to the direction of governance as it ties into the contest over stakes surrounding management control. Source
- 2026-03-26DividendResults of the regular shareholders' meeting disclosed — dividend of ₩360 per share confirmed (yield of about 0.3%)Short term: confirms continued shareholder returns. Source
Figure cross-check computed ↔ external
| Metric | Computed | External | Status | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Korean Air ownership stake | approx. 31.5% | approx. 31.5% | Confirmed | link |
| Q1 2026 net profit | ₩85.4 billion(+16.9% YoY) | ₩85.4 billion | Confirmed | link |
| 2025 annual net profit (controlling shareholders) | ₩155.0 billion | ₩155.0 billion | Confirmed | link |
| 2026 annual estimated net profit (seasonality approximation) | approx. ₩476.0 billion | — | Unverified | link |
Recent filings Source
- 2026-05-29Amended filing
- 2026-05-29Corporate governance report
- 2026-05-28Large-business-group status disclosure
- 2026-05-28Large-business-group status disclosure
- 2026-05-15PeriodicQuarterly report
- 2026-05-14Material-fact report (amended)
- 2026-05-13Material-fact report
- 2026-05-13Amended filing
- 2026-04-22OwnershipOwnership-change filing
- 2026-03-26Shareholders' meeting notice
- 2026-03-26Disclosure
- 2026-03-26Disclosure
📖 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.