Shinsegae Posts KRW 480 Billion Operating Profit on Strong Department Store Performance

[Korea Financial Times, Park seulgi] Shinsegae succeeded in expanding its scale and strengthening profitability last year. The company's store-by-store renewal and differentiation strategies at Shinsegae Department Store delivered results, while portfolio restructuring at consolidated subsidiaries played a significant role.

Shinsegae announced on the 9th that its fourth-quarter consolidated revenue reached KRW 3,419.6 billion, up 7.3% from the same period a year earlier, while operating profit surged 67% to KRW 172.5 billion. For the full year, consolidated revenue totaled KRW 12,007.7 billion and operating profit reached KRW 480 billion, up 4.4% and 0.6%, respectively.

Department Stores Drive Overall Performance with 'KRW 7 Trillion in Sales'

Shinsegae Department Store consistently focused on expanding its "House of Shinsegae" intellectual property and attracting trendy pop-up stores last year. As a result, fourth-quarter revenue reached KRW 2,153.5 billion and operating profit hit KRW 143.3 billion, up 7.2% and 19%, respectively, from the same period last year.
Full-year 2025 revenue increased 2.2% to KRW 7,403.7 billion, while operating profit rose 0.4% to KRW 406.1 billion.

Shinsegae Department Store's flagship locations showed solid growth last year. The Gangnam store surpassed KRW 3 trillion in sales for the third consecutive year, while the Centum City store became the only non-capital region location to exceed KRW 2 trillion for three straight years. Notably, Daejeon Shinsegae Art&Science surpassed KRW 1 trillion in annual transaction volume for the first time since opening.

The main Shinsegae store underwent major renovations including "Heritage" and "The Reserve" (formerly the main building). The store was reborn as a "luxury mansion" comparable to the Gangnam location, featuring the world's largest Louis Vuitton store, a Chanel boutique blending tradition and modernity, and the largest Hermès in any Korean department store.

Foreign customer sales grew significantly. Fourth-quarter sales to foreigners alone increased 70%, with annual foreign customer sales reaching the mid-KRW 600 billion range.

As of last year, Shinsegae Department Store had four locations in the top 10: Gangnam (1st), Centum City (3rd), Daegu (6th), and Main Store (10th).
Shinsegae Department Store plans to continue its growth trajectory this year by optimizing brand portfolios for each store and market area, and offering content that only Shinsegae can provide.

A Shinsegae official said, "Despite a challenging business environment, strategic investments for the future bore fruit in both quantitative and qualitative growth last year. Building on these strategic investment results, we will continue to grow this year through industry-leading changes and innovation."

Duty-Free and Other Consolidated Subsidiaries Improve Profitability

Consolidated subsidiaries strengthened their fundamentals amid difficult external conditions including sluggish construction activity and rising exchange rates.

Shinsegae DF, which operates duty-free business, posted fourth-quarter revenue of KRW 599.3 billion, up 7.9% from the same period last year. Operating profit turned positive at KRW 2 billion. The company successfully improved profitability through profitability-focused merchandising reorganization and inventory management efficiency.

Shinsegae International's fourth-quarter revenue increased 5.6% year-over-year to KRW 344.3 billion, while operating loss improved by KRW 0.2 billion to KRW 2.8 billion. Due to the classification of last month's Jaju business unit sale as discontinued operations under Korean International Financial Reporting Standards (K-IFRS), actual revenue including the Jaju unit was KRW 399.9 billion (+4.6%), with operating profit of KRW 1.3 billion (+KRW 1 billion).

Shinsegae International, which achieved a turnaround starting in the fourth quarter, plans to maximize profitability and secure core capabilities to drive future growth this year based on global business expansion, M&A, and organizational culture innovation centered on growth.


For global business, the company will aggressively expand distribution networks to Europe, the US, Japan, and China, led by proven in-house beauty brands such as YUNJAC, VIDIVICI, and AMUSE, to drive scale expansion.

A Shinsegae official said, "We plan to establish a solid roadmap for both short-term performance improvement and mid- to long-term growth by pursuing aggressive M&A and equity investments in business areas with high growth potential such as fashion and cosmetics to secure new growth drivers."

Shinsegae Casa received somewhat disappointing results. Fourth-quarter revenue fell 7.0% from the same period last year to KRW 62.6 billion. Operating loss turned negative at KRW 2.9 billion.

Starting this January, the company expanded its portfolio across all aspects of living, including Casamia, MATERASSO, CUCINELLA, guud.com, JAJU, and JAAH. Shinsegae stated, "We will make this year the inaugural year of innovation and leap forward to explore a mid- to long-term growth vision, and plan to transform into a comprehensive lifestyle company with KRW 800 billion in scale by 2030, four years from now."

Shinsegae Central's fourth-quarter revenue increased 13.2% from the same period last year to KRW 109.9 billion due to increased rental income and hotel sales, while operating profit rose 29% to KRW 29.2 billion.

Shinsegae Live Shopping's fourth-quarter revenue decreased 1.1% from the same period last year to KRW 90.6 billion, but operating profit increased 24.4% to KRW 6.1 billion. This was achieved based on positive response to the in-house men's wear brand "Shinsegae Men's Collection" and expansion of profitability-focused premium fashion portfolio including popular department store brands "Sisley" and "Pleats Me."

Shinsegae Live Shopping plans to solidify its position as the No. 1 player in the T-commerce industry by continuing to expand its premium fashion business portfolio and accelerating product diversification based on customer preferences.

Additionally, Shinsegae plans to actively pursue shareholder return policies by raising dividends per share in accordance with its corporate value enhancement plan and continuing treasury stock cancellation this year according to its treasury stock cancellation plan.

Park seulgi (seulgi@fntimes.com)