PER, EPS, PBR and BPS are calculated in-house from the last 4 quarters (2025Q3–2026Q2) · Dividend yield is based on ₩30 per share · Prices as of the 2026-10-02 close
Amid a structural decline in its core stationery business and four straight years of operating losses, Monami faces a dual spotlight on its cosmetics-subsidiary diversification and KOSPI market-cap listing-maintenance requirements.
2025 consolidated revenue was 131.0 billion won with an operating loss of 5.9 billion won, marking a third straight year of losses that have widened annually.
Over the trailing four quarters (Q3 2025-Q2 2026), the net loss attributable to owners totaled roughly 10.8 billion won, with losses recorded every single quarter.
New-business subsidiary Monami Cosmetics has expanded its client base to major beauty brands such as Etude, but remains loss-making; the company has set a target of turning profitable within two years, as stated in June 2026.
In July 2026 the stock was designated an investment-warning issue amid a tightened KOSPI market-cap listing threshold of 30 billion won, but retail buying helped it avoid administrative-issue status.
From January 2027 the KOSPI market-cap threshold is set to rise further to 50 billion won, meaning listing-related monitoring will remain necessary.
Founded in 1960, Monami is a leading domestic stationery company whose core writing instruments, art supplies, and office products segment accounts for the bulk of revenue. Its business is organized into stationery, computer supplies, and other segments (franchise sales, printing, and bulk-order contracts).
Through its own franchise brands, Monami Station and Alodalo, the company also runs a channel business that sources both its own and third-party products for direct consumer distribution.
Its flagship 153 ballpoint pen, along with Namepen markers and whiteboard markers, holds a substantial share of the domestic marker market. Distribution spans wholesalers, office supply franchise chains, mass retailers, discount stores and convenience stores, B2B, and online channels.
Dong-A Pencil is often cited as a leading domestic competitor in the writing-instruments market. In 2023 Monami established Monami Cosmetics, a color-cosmetics OEM/ODM manufacturer, as a new growth driver.
Monami Cosmetics currently supplies products to major domestic beauty brands including Etude, Dewytree, Tinytan, Skinfood, and Hince.
A key point of differentiation from competitors is that Monami Cosmetics applies color-formulation know-how and mold/injection technology accumulated from decades of pen manufacturing to develop both formulations and containers in-house.
| Quarter | Revenue | Operating profit | Op. margin |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025Q2 | ₩31.8B | -₩1.6B | −5.1% |
| 2025Q3 | ₩32.6B | -₩2.1B | −6.6% |
| 2025Q4 | ₩33.1B | -₩1.4B | −4.1% |
| 2026Q1 | ₩32.8B | -₩2.7B | −8.3% |
| 2026Q2 | ₩28.8B | -₩1.3B | −4.3% |
| Year | Revenue | Operating profit | Net income (parent) | Op. margin | ROE | Debt-to-equity |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | ₩149.5B | ₩6.3B | ₩3.1B | 4.2% | 3.0% | 104.9% |
| 2023 | ₩141.5B | -₩2.3B | -₩5.8B | −1.6% | −6.1% | 98.3% |
| 2024 | ₩133.1B | -₩3.8B | -₩5.3B | −2.9% | −5.8% | 113.1% |
| 2025 | ₩131B | -₩5.9B | -₩10.6B | −4.5% | −13.0% | 117.8% |
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 fell for four straight years, from 149.5 billion won in 2022 to 141.5 billion won in 2023, 133.1 billion won in 2024, and 131.0 billion won in 2025.
Operating profit flipped from a 6.3 billion won gain in 2022 to a 2.3 billion won loss in 2023, then widened to a 3.8 billion won loss in 2024 and a 5.9 billion won loss in 2025.
Net income attributable to owners similarly swung from a 3.1 billion won profit in 2022 to losses of 5.8 billion won in 2023, 5.3 billion won in 2024, and 10.6 billion won in 2025. Owners' equity declined from 104.0 billion won in 2022 to 81.0 billion won in 2025, a drop of roughly 23 billion won over four years.
The debt ratio eased to 98.3% in 2023 before climbing back to 113.1% in 2024 and 117.8% in 2025. On a quarterly basis, revenue ranged between 31.8 and 33.1 billion won from Q2 2025 through Q1 2026 before dropping noticeably to 28.8 billion won in Q2 2026.
Operating losses persisted every quarter in a range of roughly 1.2 to 2.7 billion won, and net losses attributable to owners stayed in the 2.3 to 3.2 billion won range.
The trailing four-quarter net loss attributable to owners (Q3 2025-Q2 2026) totaled roughly 10.8 billion won, underscoring the persistence of the loss-making trend.
Operating cash flow, however, stayed positive for three consecutive years from 2023 to 2025 (3.5, 2.3, and 1.5 billion won respectively), suggesting non-cash items such as depreciation partially cushioned the net losses.
South Korea's domestic stationery market faces a structural decline in demand for analog writing instruments, driven by falling school-age population and the spread of smartphones and tablets.
This is compounded by an influx of low-priced Chinese writing instruments, which has intensified price competition domestically.
In contrast, the global stationery market is showing moderate growth supported by educational-institution demand and Asia-Pacific expansion, a trajectory that diverges from Monami's domestically focused position.
Monami and Dong-A Pencil have long held an oligopolistic position in the domestic writing-instruments market, but the growth of low-price retail channels such as Daiso and online commerce is disrupting the traditional offline and franchise distribution structure.
Against this backdrop, Monami is trying to widen its consumer touchpoints through its stationery franchises (Monami Station, Alodalo) alongside online channels.
The color-cosmetics OEM/ODM market that Monami has entered as a new business is growing on the back of K-beauty's global spread, but Monami Cosmetics remains a late entrant relative to large-scale ODM players and is attempting to differentiate through a niche strategy of small-batch, multi-item production.
Overall, Monami's industry position can be seen as transitional, straddling a shrinking legacy business and a new business that has not yet achieved economies of scale.
The company has stated plans to reinforce R&D staffing to improve stationery-business profitability, aiming for a turnaround through an expanded premium pen lineup and new industrial and lifestyle-decor products.
Monami Cosmetics said it has organized its R&D function into an R&D center and a separate regulatory-affairs (RA) team, and is increasing orders from domestic and overseas beauty brands.
As of June 2026, the company set a goal of turning Monami Cosmetics profitable within two years while continuing large-scale investment.
It stated it has secured five certifications for overseas expansion—CGMP, ISO 9001, ISO 14001, ISO 22716, and vegan certification—and is pursuing buyer development in the United States, Australia, and Southeast Asia.
However, the timing at which these new-business expansion plans translate into actual earnings improvement has not yet been confirmed through disclosures.
Separately, industry commentary has noted that efforts to boost corporate value—whether through earnings improvement or shareholder communication—will be needed to address the market-cap requirements for maintaining the listing.
Going forward, quarterly and semiannual disclosures on both the resilience of core stationery revenue and the pace of earnings improvement at the cosmetics subsidiary will be an important area to watch.
With operating and net losses persisting in recent years, earnings-based valuation metrics are difficult to apply meaningfully to Monami. The stock trades below its per-share net asset value, which can be interpreted as the market partially pricing in risks related to further equity erosion or new-business uncertainty.
The company appears to have maintained a small cash dividend even during loss-making periods, though the sustainability of a dividend not backed by earnings warrants attention.
Recent share-price movements have been driven more by retail buying tied to listing-maintenance concerns than by earnings improvement, making them difficult to interpret through conventional valuation measures alone.
A clearer valuation benchmark may only re-emerge once the resilience of the core stationery business's earnings and the profitability turnaround of the cosmetics subsidiary are confirmed.
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
Monami possesses long-standing brand equity anchored by its iconic 153 ballpoint pen, and retains a substantial domestic market share in markers such as Namepen and whiteboard markers. Despite shrinking revenue, an annual revenue base of around 131 billion won has been sustained, functioning as a cash-generating core. Its long-standing brand recognition can also be leveraged as a marketing asset for new-business expansion.
Monami Cosmetics supplies products to major domestic beauty brands including Etude, Dewytree, and Skinfood, and the company says orders are on an increasing trend. It has established international certifications such as CGMP to lay a foundation for overseas expansion. The company has set a goal of turning profitable within two years.
As listing-maintenance concerns surfaced in July 2026, a wave of retail buying aimed at 'protecting a beloved national company' drew renewed public attention to Monami. The re-emergence of the company's brand story and value during this episode is viewed as a positive for long-term brand marketing. This attention, however, does not directly translate into earnings improvement.
The domestic stationery market faces declining demand from a shrinking school-age population and the spread of digital devices, while an influx of low-priced Chinese products intensifies competition.
As a result, revenue fell for four straight years from 149.5 billion won in 2022 to 131.0 billion won in 2025, and operating losses widened each year.
Since Monami Cosmetics was established, capital injected through rights offerings has reached about 15 billion won, and including loans and loan guarantees, the parent's total commitment approaches 20 billion won.
The subsidiary remains loss-making, and the profitability turnaround the company targeted has yet to materialize.
From July 2026, the KOSPI market-cap listing-maintenance threshold rose to 30 billion won, and it is scheduled to rise further to 50 billion won in January 2027.
Monami previously came close to being designated an administrative issue due to falling short of the market-cap threshold and only escaped through retail buying, meaning similar risk could recur without fundamental improvement.
Consolidated operating losses have continued for three straight years since 2023, widening each year, while owners' equity fell from 104.0 billion won in 2022 to 81.0 billion won in 2025. The debt ratio also reached 117.8% in 2025, its highest level in the past four years. Continued loss accumulation could further weaken the financial buffer.
Amid a phased increase in the KOSPI market-cap listing-maintenance threshold, Monami has already experienced one episode of falling short of the requirement.
Having been designated an investment-warning issue during a sharp price rally, the stock may be prone to heightened short-term volatility driven by supply-demand swings.
The cosmetics new business is a late entrant relative to large-scale ODM competitors and has yet to achieve economies of scale, with subsidiary losses persisting.
The core stationery business also faces intensifying low-cost competition and structurally declining demand, making near-term earnings improvement challenging for both businesses.
The Q3 2026 quarterly report disclosure should be checked to see whether the revenue and operating-loss trend breaks from its recent pattern of decline.
It is worth continuously monitoring whether the market cap falls below the 30 billion won listing-maintenance threshold for 30 consecutive trading days, and whether any additional investment-warning designations occur.
This is when the KOSPI market-cap listing-maintenance threshold rises further to 50 billion won, so it should be checked whether the market cap at that time meets the new requirement.
Monami Cosmetics' full-year revenue and profit/loss figures will be finalized through disclosure, allowing an assessment of progress on the company's stated profitability turnaround roadmap.
Monami retains long-standing brand equity anchored by its iconic 153 ballpoint pen, but is undergoing a structural decline in its core stationery business driven by a shrinking school-age population and digital transition.
Consolidated revenue fell for four straight years from 149.5 billion won in 2022 to 131.0 billion won in 2025, while operating results swung from a profit to a 5.9 billion won loss over the same period.
Monami Cosmetics, the cosmetics subsidiary being cultivated as a new growth driver, has expanded its client base but remains loss-making, and the profitability turnaround target set by the company has not yet been confirmed through disclosure.
In July 2026 the company came close to administrative-issue designation amid a tightened KOSPI market-cap listing threshold before escaping via retail buying, and with a further threshold increase scheduled for January 2027, related risk remains something to monitor continuously.
On balance, Monami sits at a juncture where brand equity and new-business expansion efforts stand as bullish factors in tension with core-business decline, new-business losses, and listing-maintenance risk as bearish factors.
Report written 2026-09-05 · Data as of 2026-09-04
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