Missha producer racks up yearly profit

Able C&C, which runs popular South Korean cosmetics brand Missha, successfully turned around last year by swinging back to profitability on the back of stellar performances in offshore markets.

The Seoul-based company recently said that its 2019 sales amounted to 422.2 billion won ($348 million), up 22.2 percent from a year ago, for an operating profit of 1.8 billion won ($1.5 million).

The outfit suffered an operating loss of 19 billion won ($16 million) in 2018, but it took just a year to return to the positive territory.

Observers pointed out that Able C&C’s strategy of focusing on online and global markets worked in a handsome fashion. It took such a strategy after acquired by IMM PE, one of the country’s top private equity funds, in 2017.

Able C&C saw its global business jump 15 percent year-on-year to 121 billion won ($100 million) last year. In particular, the growth rate stood at 26 percent in Europe, and 22 percent in Asia.

Its Japanese unit, dubbed Missha Japan, also chalked up 38.4 billion won ($32 million) turnover last year, up 70 percent from 2018.

Its online division also racked up a 31-percent growth for a top line of 38.4 billion won ($32 million).

Able C&C is expected to enjoy robust results this year, too, as the entity plans to reinforce its operations both at home and abroad.

It strives to make inroads into new markets in Europe, South America, and the Middle East. In Korea, it aims to increase the number of its multi-brand shop NUNC to 150 this year from 42 in 2019.

“At a time when the domestic economy was not good amid stiff competition, we were able to achieve two exploits of jacking up sales while turning a profit last year,” said Able C&C CFO Shin Hyun-cheol.

“Our seamless efforts for the past few years underpinned such feats. We will further improve our business through more aggressive strategies this year.”