Kurly Inc. posts 64% jump in Q3 operating profit, sets quarterly sales record

[Financial News] Backed by growth in its core food and beauty categories and the expansion of new businesses, Kurly Inc. increased its operating profit by more than 60% in the third quarter of this year. Revenue hit a record high for a single quarter, and the company extended its streak of operating profits to seven consecutive quarters.
On the 10th, according to the Financial Supervisory Service's Data Analysis, Retrieval and Transfer System (DART), Kurly Inc.'s consolidated operating profit for the third quarter of this year was 10 billion won, up 63.5% from the same period a year earlier. Revenue for the same period rose 34.4% to 777.9 billion won, setting a new quarterly record. Net profit was 6.1 billion won, marking the company's third consecutive profitable quarter.
Cumulative revenue for the first three quarters of this year reached 2.2583 trillion won, approaching last year's full-year revenue of 2.3671 trillion won. Cumulative operating profit also increased 6.7-fold from the same period a year earlier.
As its core and new businesses grew in tandem, total transaction value rose 32.1% year on year to 1.1496 trillion won. The company said the increase was driven by expanded offerings of restaurant meal replacement (RMR) products developed in collaboration with well-known chefs, as well as strong sales of its own meal-kit brands, including Charyeonaen. Beauty Kurly's transaction value also increased 25%, supported by an expanded range of emerging brands and rising demand for functional product categories such as derma cosmetics.
Growth also continued in new businesses. Transaction value for seller-fulfilled products (3P), whose range is expanding to include fashion and home and living products, increased 32.6% year on year. As of September, the number of fashion brands on the platform had nearly doubled from a year earlier.
Kurly N Mart, launched in September last year, saw its monthly transaction value increase tenfold within a year of launch. Over the same period, the volume handled by the Naver Fulfillment Alliance (NFA) also expanded 21-fold.
Cost efficiencies also contributed to improved profitability. Although some costs, including packaging expenses, rose as the use of refrigerants and insulated packaging increased during the summer, improvements to the cost structure lowered the selling, general and administrative expense ratio by 2.1 percentage points year on year. Cash and cash equivalents stood at 413.9 billion won at the end of the third quarter, up 85.4% from a year earlier and a record high.
Kim Jong-hoon, Kurly Inc.'s chief financial officer (CFO), said, "The solid growth of our core business, combined with the performance of our new businesses, enabled us to achieve record quarterly revenue while also strengthening our fundamentals. In the remaining fourth quarter, we will continue to build sustainable business competitiveness by balancing growth and profitability, and accelerate our efforts to enhance corporate value."
[email protected] Kim Hyun-ji Reporter