[THE INVESTOR] Cheil Worldwide will maintain growth momentum next year, said Korea Investment and Securities on Dec. 20 maintaining a “buy” recommendation and 26,000 won (US$23.05) target price.
It acquired two digital marketing firms -- Romania’s Centrade and India’s Experience Commerce -- earlier this year and is likely to focus on scaling up through expansion and strengthening digital marketing capacity. It is actively attracting non-affiliated clients at home and abroad while broadening services for existing clients. Anticipatory investment in personnel will lead to an expansion in size next year, said analyst Choi Min-ha.
Its revenue in the fourth quarter will rise 5.4 percent on-year to 1.05 trillion won and gross profit by 7 percent to 316 billion won. Operating profit ratio to gross profit, an indicator of profit for advertising firms, will be 15.4 percent, down from the previous quarter’s 17.6 percent, due to an increase in personnel costs, the analyst said.
By Hwang You-mee (glamazon@heraldcorp.com)