South Korean beauty tech firm APR saw third-quarter profit jump over 250 percent from a year earlier, driven by surging demand in the US market, where sales are now more than twice those in Korea.
According to the beauty firm on Thursday, consolidated revenue for the July-September period rose 122 percent on-year to 385.9 billion won ($266 million), while operating profit soared 253 percent to 96.1 billion won.
Its strongest-ever quarterly performance puts the company on track to hit its 1 trillion won annual revenue target, with year-to-date revenue reaching 980 billion won.
APR’s flagship skin care brand, Medicube, was the main driver of growth, with both its cosmetics and beauty device divisions delivering robust performance.
“Medicube’s PDRN product line has surpassed 15 million cumulative units sold globally, and our beauty devices have exceeded 5 million units in cumulative sales,” said Chief Financial Officer Shin Jae-ha during the third-quarter earnings call Thursday. “Our steady sellers continue to grow, with more stock keeping units ranking in top global retail channels.”
Overseas sales topped 300 billion won, accounting for over 80 percent of total revenue, while the US market alone made up 39 percent.
“US revenue soared 280 percent on-year, now exceeding Korean sales by more than two times,” said Shin, noting that demand has been surging across Amazon and Ulta Beauty.
"Although offline sales currently account for less than 10 percent of our total US revenue, we expect this figure to rise to 20 to 30 percent next year."
According to the company, this was the first quarter in which US tariffs had a material impact on the company’s financial performance.
“The impact from US tariffs was roughly 1 percent of total revenue, or around 3 billion to 4 billion won,” said Shin. “Despite this external headwind, we were able to maintain a healthy operating margin of 24.9 percent.”
In other markets, the company expects further growth in Japan through offline expansion, while in Europe it plans to focus on building direct connections with consumers.
“Starting later this year or in early next year, we are preparing to accelerate our direct-to-consumer strategy in key markets such as the UK, Germany and France,” Shin said. “Our rollout will leverage major online platforms, including Amazon and TikTok.”
minmin@heraldcorp.com
