April 18, 2024

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[THE INVESTOR] E-mart, Korea’s largest discount chain operated by Shinsegae, on July 11 announced that it has injected 69 billion won (US$ 61.21 million) in its convenience store chain Emart24.

E-mart funded Emart24 through buying the convenience stores chain’s newly issued 12 million shares.

Emart24 is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Korean discount chain operator. In total, E-mart has injected 268 billion won in Emart24, after the retail giant acquired the convenience store chain in 2013. The latest funding from E-mart came in January, when Emart24 had issued new stocks worth 500 billion won.

“Our recent funding will be used to increase the number of outlets here to gain competitiveness in the market. We aim to operate 6,000 stores by 2020 because we estimate that by then we can see some profit,” a Emart24 spokesperson told The Investor. He also added that the company is likely to receive additional funding from its parent firm before the end of 2020.

Emart24’s operating loss increased to 51.6 billion won from 35 billion won at the end of last year due to its aggressive expansion, while posting 684 billion won revenue. The number of outlets increased from 501 in 2014 to 3,236 as of June this year, outnumbering Ministop and becoming the fourth-largest player after CU, GS25 and 7-Eleven.

“We are not worried about our operating loss. We are at the stage where we have to expand our business for further growth,” the Emart24 spokesperson added.

By Song Seung-hyun (ssh@heraldcorp.com)