PER, EPS, PBR and BPS are calculated in-house from the last 4 quarters (2025Q3–2026Q2) · Dividend yield is based on ₩205 per share · Prices as of the 2026-10-02 close
SB Sungbo swung to a net profit in 2025 on a gain from selling its headquarters building, but the operating loss in its core crop-protection business actually widened, leaving core profitability as the key task ahead.
2025 consolidated revenue rose 7.5% to KRW64.3bn, but the operating loss widened to KRW8.1bn from KRW2.9bn in 2024.
A gain on the sale of the old headquarters building (following relocation to a new Daechi-dong tower) helped owners' net income swing to a KRW34.4bn profit in 2025.
Revenue is heavily seasonal, concentrated in spring/summer; operating profit turned positive (+KRW7.0bn) in Q1 2026 but reverted to a loss (-KRW3.7bn) in Q2 2026.
The debt ratio rose to 73.0% in 2024 amid the new-building purchase, then eased to 49.4% in 2025 as proceeds from the old-building sale came in.
The controlling family's surname clan has previously led the stock to be grouped as a political theme stock, exposing shares to volatility unrelated to fundamentals.
SB Sungbo was founded in 1961 to manufacture crop protection products (agrochemicals) and listed on the KOSPI in 1976, operating in the chemicals sector.
Its core business is the manufacture and sale of fungicides, herbicides and insecticides, producing formulated products and technical-grade active ingredients that are distributed to farmers through regional offices and a wholesale/retail network.
As of the third quarter of 2025, crop protection products accounted for more than 95% of total revenue, with the remainder diversified into real estate leasing income and a cafe business.
The company operates subsidiaries SBwith Agro and SBwith Crops, agricultural corporations, and in April 2025 rebranded under the new management philosophy 'SB with,' relocating its headquarters to the new 'SBwith Tower' in Daechi-dong, southern Seoul.
Demand is influenced by pest outbreak frequency and weather conditions, and sales are heavily concentrated in the spring and summer seasons.
The domestic crop protection market is dominated by larger manufacturers including Farmhannong, Kyongnong, Dongbang Agro, Korea Samgong, Syngenta Korea and NongHyup Chemical, with SB Sungbo positioned as a relatively smaller player.
Liberalization of technical-ingredient imports and expanded agricultural import openness are structural factors repeatedly cited as intensifying competition among domestic manufacturers.
| Quarter | Revenue | Operating profit | Op. margin |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025Q2 | ₩10.9B | -₩3.5B | −32.0% |
| 2025Q3 | ₩6.7B | -₩4.8B | −71.2% |
| 2025Q4 | ₩1.7B | -₩7.4B | −425.4% |
| 2026Q1 | ₩44.3B | ₩7B | 15.9% |
| 2026Q2 | ₩12.9B | -₩3.7B | −28.4% |
| Year | Revenue | Operating profit | Net income (parent) | Op. margin | ROE | Debt-to-equity |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | ₩66.4B | ₩1.9B | ₩4B | 2.9% | 2.9% | 24.3% |
| 2023 | ₩62.6B | ₩200M | ₩1.3B | 0.3% | 1.0% | 25.0% |
| 2024 | ₩59.8B | -₩2.9B | -₩3.4B | −4.9% | −2.7% | 73.0% |
| 2025 | ₩64.3B | -₩8.1B | ₩34.5B | −12.7% | 22.4% | 49.4% |
Consolidated basis (financial statements including subsidiaries) · Final figures from DART filings · Net income attributable to owners of the parent · Data as of 2026-08-23
Consolidated revenue in 2025 reached KRW64.334bn, up 7.5% from KRW59.838bn in 2024. However, the operating loss widened to KRW8.143bn from KRW2.930bn in 2024, which the company attributed to rising manufacturing costs from a sharp exchange-rate increase and one-off costs tied to its headquarters relocation.
By contrast, owners' net income swung to a profit of KRW34.452bn, reflecting a gain on the disposal of the old headquarters building.
On a quarterly basis, owners' net income reached KRW44.7bn in the second quarter of 2025, suggesting the disposal gain was concentrated in that quarter, even as the operating loss that quarter was KRW3.5bn.
The loss trend continued in the third quarter (net loss of KRW3.78bn, operating loss of KRW4.79bn) and fourth quarter (net loss of KRW11.84bn, operating loss of KRW7.41bn) once the disposal-gain effect faded.
The first quarter of 2026 benefited from seasonal peak demand, with revenue rising to KRW44.34bn and operating profit turning positive at KRW7.05bn, but the second quarter saw revenue fall to KRW12.90bn with an operating loss of KRW3.67bn and a net loss of KRW2.74bn, reverting to a loss.
Summed over the most recent four quarters (Q3 2025 through Q2 2026), owners' net income/loss totaled roughly negative KRW13.7bn, a period in which core operating performance re-emerged after the disposal gain was exhausted.
Compared with 2022-2023, when revenue ranged from KRW62.6bn to KRW66.2bn alongside modest operating profits of around KRW0.2-1.9bn, operating profitability has clearly deteriorated over the past two years.
The debt ratio jumped from 25.0% in 2023 to 73.0% in 2024 before easing to 49.4% in 2025, a pattern consistent with borrowing tied to the new-building purchase followed by proceeds from the old-building sale.
Industry tallies show the combined revenue of the seven major domestic crop protection manufacturers reached KRW1.7758tn in 2025, up 2.7% from KRW1.7289tn the prior year.
Performance diverged by company, however: NongHyup Chemical and Syngenta Korea fell short of prior-year levels, while Kyongnong, Dongbang Agro, Korea Samgong and SB Sungbo posted growth.
SB Sungbo in particular is understood to have grown revenue 10.2% year over year, benefiting from a policy change NongHyup Central Federation introduced for the first time in 2025 that halted regional branches' self-procurement of certain product lines.
That growth rests partly on a temporary distribution-policy shift, a windfall that could reverse if the policy were rolled back.
Structurally, ongoing liberalization of technical-ingredient imports and expanding openness to agricultural imports continue to intensify price and quality competition among domestic manufacturers.
The sector's demand is also inherently volatile, swinging with pest outbreak frequency and weather conditions in any given year, making it difficult to draw firm trend conclusions from a single year's results.
SB Sungbo is a relatively smaller player by revenue scale, generally regarded as at a scale disadvantage versus larger peers such as Farmhannong and Kyongnong.
In 2025 the company adopted the new corporate identity and management philosophy 'SB with,' and alongside its headquarters relocation set a goal of becoming an AgTech company connecting the agricultural value chain.
The CEO has stated an intention to respect each affiliate's specialization while creating synergy under a unified brand. However, no quantified guidance on revenue or profit targets, capacity expansions, or new product launch schedules has been identified.
On the earnings front, with the one-off gain from the building sale now exhausted, future net income trends are likely to be driven more directly by the operating performance of the core crop protection business.
A key point to watch is whether the seasonal pattern seen in the first quarter of 2026, when operating profit turned positive, can recur, or whether cost pressures persist and drag the full year into an operating loss.
Whether the windfall benefit tied to NongHyup's procurement policy change persists into 2026, and how raw material costs and exchange rates evolve, are additional variables that will affect future results.
The current share price sits below the level of net asset value per share, trading at a discount to book value.
However, since the 2025 swing to net profit was driven largely by a one-off gain from the headquarters building sale rather than the core business, this factor should be kept in mind when interpreting recent profit metrics.
Dividend payment and size are reviewed each year based on performance, so continuity should not be assumed from any single year's dividend history.
The controlling family's history of being grouped with a political theme tied to a particular surname clan is also a characteristic worth considering when interpreting this stock's valuation, given that it can drive supply-demand swings unrelated to fundamentals.
PER, EPS, PBR and BPS are all calculated in-house (the same method as Naver and Toss) · Dividend yield = cash dividend per share from DART filings (supplemented by KRX) ÷ current price · As of 2026-08-23
Proceeds from the old-building sale brought the debt ratio down to 49.4% in 2025 from a peak of 73.0% in 2024. This partially eases the borrowing burden associated with the headquarters relocation, a factor that can be viewed positively for future financial flexibility.
NongHyup Central Federation's 2025 policy halting regional self-procurement of certain product lines appears to have boosted sales for private manufacturers including SB Sungbo. If this trend continues, it could contribute to market share gains.
Rental income from part of the new headquarters building and cafe sales provide a non-crop-protection revenue element. This can serve to partially cushion the seasonal volatility of crop protection product sales.
The company posted annual operating losses in both 2024 and 2025, with the loss widening from KRW2.9bn to KRW8.1bn. While this reflects a combination of FX-driven cost pressure and one-off relocation expenses, a recovery in core profitability has not yet been confirmed.
The 2025 net profit relied heavily on the disposal gain from the building sale, and once that gain faded in the third and fourth quarters of 2025 and the second quarter of 2026, the company reverted to net losses. Without similar one-off gains, sustaining improved net income appears structurally difficult.
Because revenue is heavily influenced by pest outbreak frequency and weather conditions and is concentrated in spring and summer, annual results carry significant volatility.
Liberalization of technical-ingredient imports and expanded agricultural import openness are ongoing factors intensifying competition among domestic manufacturers.
The company cited rising manufacturing costs from a sharp exchange-rate increase as a factor behind the widened 2025 operating loss. Given the business's reliance on imported technical ingredients, currency fluctuations can directly affect costs.
The windfall from NongHyup's policy halting regional self-procurement of certain product lines persists only as long as the policy remains in place.
Ongoing liberalization of technical-ingredient imports and expanded agricultural import openness also represent a structural risk pressuring domestic manufacturer competition.
The controlling family has previously been grouped as a political theme stock tied to former President Yoon Suk-yeol due to a shared surname clan, resulting in sharp share-price swings unrelated to earnings. If political issues resurface, supply-demand volatility disconnected from fundamentals could recur.
The Q3 2026 report is expected around this time; it will be important to check how core operating performance trends during the seasonally weaker quarter without any disposal gain.
The 2026 annual business report (audited) is expected around this time, a point to check whether full-year operating income turns positive and how the debt ratio further evolves.
Industry trade publications typically release annual crop protection market tallies around this time, allowing a check on whether the NongHyup procurement-policy windfall persisted into 2026 and SB Sungbo's relative growth within the market.
Should political issues related to presidential politics resurface, theme-driven supply-demand swings tied to the controlling family's surname clan could recur, making it worth monitoring related news and large-shareholding disclosure filings.
SB Sungbo swung to a KRW34.4bn owners' net profit in 2025 thanks to a gain on the sale of its headquarters building, but this was driven largely by a one-off factor rather than an improvement in the core business.
Indeed, the operating loss that same year widened to KRW8.1bn from the prior year, and the company reverted to net losses in the third and fourth quarters of 2025 and the second quarter of 2026 once the disposal gain was exhausted.
A pattern of operating profit during the seasonal peak, as seen in the first quarter of 2026, has been confirmed, but whether this is sustainable on a full-year basis remains to be seen.
The debt ratio also shifted, spiking in 2024 amid the new-building purchase before easing in 2025 as proceeds from the old-building sale came in. On the industry side, a windfall from NongHyup's distribution policy change and intensifying competition from technical-ingredient import liberalization are both in play.
The controlling family's history of being tied to a political theme stock based on their surname clan should be recognized separately as a source of price volatility unrelated to fundamentals.
Overall, whether core profitability recovers and whether net income can be sustained without one-off factors are the key points to watch going forward.
Report written 2026-09-05 · Data as of 2026-09-04
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