SK hynix pairs record earnings with a 100 trillion won shareholder plan
SK hynix reported third-quarter operating profit of 83.3338 trillion won and outlined about 100 trillion won in shareholder returns for the year. The memory producer also ended its review of a Solidigm listing. Long-term customer agreements and rising memory sales accompanied the results, while part of its new share repurchases was reserved for employee compensation.
Economics & Markets··Midday
Record operating earnings
South Korean memory producer SK hynix reported preliminary third-quarter revenue of 104.6155 trillion won and operating profit of 83.3338 trillion won. Sales passed 100 trillion won for the first time. The results accompanied an annual shareholder distribution programme of about 100 trillion won, combining dividends with share repurchases and cancellations. The company put its operating margin at a rounded 80 per cent.[1], [2]
Compared with the preceding quarter, revenue increased 32 per cent and operating profit rose 38 per cent. Net income moved in the opposite direction, falling 58 per cent to 39.7756 trillion won from 93.9226 trillion won. It was still 216 per cent above the year-earlier level. These results were prepared under Korean financial reporting standards and remain preliminary.[1]
Customer contracts cover future capacity
SK hynix said long-term agreements with 14 major customers covered more than half of production capacity for 2027 and 2028. Pricing under the contracts reflects market conditions within agreed ranges. The company reported higher server-memory sales and growing shipments of its HBM4 high-bandwidth memory, used in artificial intelligence computing. It described customer demand and investment efficiency as factors governing investment timing and scale.[1]
Chief executive Kwak Noh-Jung said the company had discontinued its review of an initial public offering for Solidigm, its storage business. The proposed listing had been intended to raise outside capital for production expansion. Management concluded that proceeding under current financial market conditions would not deliver the intended outcome. Cash and equivalents reached 114.5 trillion won against borrowings of 15.8 trillion won, leaving net cash of 98.7 trillion won. Second-quarter revenue had been 79.3187 trillion won and operating profit 60.5426 trillion won.[1]
Repurchases split between shareholders and employees
The board approved a third-quarter cash dividend of 14 trillion won and new share repurchases of 20 trillion won. Half of those repurchases, worth 10 trillion won, was earmarked for cancellation; the remainder was allocated to employee compensation. The latter portion is excluded from the annual shareholder return plan of about 100 trillion won. Management also announced a special dividend sharing most of the gains realised on its Kioxia investment.[1]
