[NEWSMP] Last year, the combined annual sales growth rate of the top five pharmaceutical companies remained at around 3%, while operating profit and net profit declined significantly. In particular, the performance varied greatly among companies, with some reporting gains and others facing losses.
According to reports compiled by Newsmp on the top five pharmaceutical companies —Yuhan Corporation, Chong Kun Dang, GC Biopharma, Daewoong Pharmaceutical, and Hanmi Pharmaceutical—the combined annual sales reached 7.223 trillion KRW last year, reflecting a modest 3.4% increase compared to 2023 (based on separate financial statements).
By company, Yuhan Corporation surpassed the 2 trillion KRW mark with double-digit growth, increasing by 11.0% from 2023 to 2.0084 trillion KRW. In contrast, Chong Kun Dang posted a 5.5% decline in sales to 1.5593 trillion KRW.
GC Biopharma showed a stable performance with an increase of 5.5% to 1.2759 trillion KRW. Meanwhile, Daewoong Pharmaceutical recorded sales of 1.2653 trillion KRW, an increase of 3.5%, and Hanmi Pharmaceutical posted a modest 1.6% increase to 1.1141 trillion KRW, with both failing to surpass the 5% growth mark.
Operating profits also varied significantly among companies. Chong Kun Dang, which was the only company to achieve an operating profit of over 200 billion KRW in 2023, saw a sharp decline of 63.4% to 88.2 billion KRW. The combined operating profit of the five companies also shrank by 11.5% to 514.7 billion KRW.
However, GC Biopharma, which had posted only 20.6 billion KRW in operating profit in 2023, saw a significant increase in operating profit to 60.1 billion KRW. Daewoong Pharmaceutical’s operating profit also grew from 133.5 billion KRW to 163.7 billion KRW, an increase of over 30 billion KRW.
Yuhan Corporation also recorded an increase in operating profit, rising from 57.2 billion KRW to 70.1 billion KRW, marking a growth of over 20%. Hanmi Pharmaceutical's operating profit increased slightly from 129.6 billion KRW to 132.6 billion KRW.
In terms of net profit, Hanmi Pharmaceutical saw an increase from 109.2 billion KRW to 133.3 billion KRW, GC Biopharma from 7.2 billion KRW to 13.6 billion KRW, and Yuhan Corporation from 93.5 billion KRW to 96.7 billion KRW, with growth ranging from 3 billion KRW to 6 billion KRW.
However, Chong Kun Dang's net profit plummeted from 208.8 billion KRW to 107.1 billion KRW, a decrease of over 100 billion KRW, while Daewoong Pharmaceutical's net profit also dropped significantly from 111.6 billion KRW to 43.1 billion KRW.
As a result, the combined net profit of the five companies fell sharply by 25.7% from 530.3 billion KRW to 393.8 billion KRW. The average operating profit margin declined from 8.3% to 7.1% and the net profit margin fell from 7.6% to 5.5%.
The performance of the top five companies was even weaker in the fourth quarter.
While Yuhan Corporation and GC Biopharma achieved double-digit sales growth rates in the fourth quarter, Chong Kun Dang and Hanmi Pharmaceutical posted double-digit negative growth rates, resulting in a combined sales decline of 1.4% compared to 2023.
The combined operating profit of the five companies also decreased by more than 60%, as Yuhan Corporation posted a loss, and the operating profit of Chong Kun Dang and Hanmi Pharmaceutical decreased significantly.
Furthermore, the combined net profit of the five companies declined by nearly 70%, despite Hanmi Pharmaceutical nearly doubling its net profit to 51.2 billion KRW. This was due to Yuhan Corporation's net profit plummeting 57.1%, Chong Kun Dang suffering a sharp drop of 91.8%, and GC Biopharma's deficit widening.
