PER, EPS, PBR and BPS are calculated in-house from the last 4 quarters (2025Q3–2026Q2) · Dividend yield is based on ₩175 per share · Prices as of the 2026-10-02 close
Nexen is an operating holding company controlling Nexen Tire and Nexen D&S, and while revenue has risen for four consecutive years, operating margin slipped from 7.3% in 2023 to 5.7% in 2025, showing a divergence between top-line growth and profitability.
2025 revenue reached KRW 3,586.5 billion, up 11.6% year on year, but operating margin fell to 5.7% from 7.3% in 2023.
Net income attributable to owners rose from a near-breakeven KRW 1.78 billion in 2022 to KRW 91.19 billion in 2025, extending a multi-year earnings recovery.
Operating cash flow turned from negative in 2022 to KRW 360.4 billion in 2025, alongside continued deleveraging.
Second-quarter 2026 revenue exceeded KRW 1 trillion for the first time in the period shown, but operating margin eased to 4.9% from 7.2% in the prior quarter.
Site selection for core subsidiary Nexen Tire's fifth plant (originally planned for the U.S.) remains delayed, leaving uncertainty in the group's global supply-chain strategy.
Nexen (005720) was founded in 1968, adopted its current name in 2002, and grew into a holding company with 15 affiliates after bringing Nexen Tire under its umbrella in 2018.
The parent itself is classified as an operating holding company that directly conducts rubber-product manufacturing, sales, and logistics business. Core subsidiary Nexen Tire manufactures, sells, and rents automotive tires, supplying products to more than 150 countries worldwide.
Another subsidiary, Nexen D&S, handles real-estate leasing, sales and development, along with golf course operations. Production runs across four sites in Korea (Yangsan and Changnyeong), China (Qingdao), and Europe (Zatec, Czech Republic), together forming an annual production system of roughly 50 million tires.
The Zatec plant in the Czech Republic completed a phase-two expansion that lifted capacity from 5.5 million to 11 million units. The logistics segment handles group-wide logistics and contributes to earnings through stable transaction volumes and price competitiveness.
Globally, the automotive tire and tube market is an oligopoly in which the three Korean tire makers, including Nexen, together hold more than 50% market share.
| Quarter | Revenue | Operating profit | Op. margin |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025Q2 | ₩904.7B | ₩50.3B | 5.6% |
| 2025Q3 | ₩886.6B | ₩55.3B | 6.2% |
| 2025Q4 | ₩927.8B | ₩49.7B | 5.4% |
| 2026Q1 | ₩937.5B | ₩67.6B | 7.2% |
| 2026Q2 | ₩1T | ₩49.1B | 4.9% |
| Year | Revenue | Operating profit | Net income (parent) | Op. margin | ROE | Debt-to-equity |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | ₩3T | -₩22.5B | ₩1.8B | −0.8% | 0.2% | 121.8% |
| 2023 | ₩3T | ₩221B | ₩41.6B | 7.3% | 3.6% | 126.8% |
| 2024 | ₩3.2T | ₩209.7B | ₩85.9B | 6.5% | 6.8% | 123.6% |
| 2025 | ₩3.6T | ₩204.2B | ₩91.2B | 5.7% | 6.5% | 113.4% |
Consolidated basis (financial statements including subsidiaries) · Final figures from DART filings · Net income attributable to owners of the parent · Data as of 2026-08-21
On an annual basis, revenue rose for four straight years, from KRW 3,003.9 billion in 2022 to KRW 3,586.5 billion in 2025.
Operating profit, however, swung from an operating loss of KRW 22.5 billion in 2022 to KRW 221.0 billion in 2023, then eased to KRW 209.7 billion in 2024 and KRW 204.2 billion in 2025, pushing the operating margin down from 7.3% in 2023 to 6.5% in 2024 and 5.7% in 2025.
The combination of revenue growth and margin compression points to cost pressure and one-off items weighing on profitability even as the top line expanded.
Net income attributable to owners followed a different trajectory, climbing steadily from KRW 1.78 billion in 2022 to KRW 41.6 billion in 2023, KRW 85.9 billion in 2024, and KRW 91.2 billion in 2025.
On a quarterly basis, operating profit fell from KRW 55.3 billion in the third quarter of 2025 (with owner net income of KRW 31.7 billion) to KRW 49.7 billion in the fourth quarter (KRW 23.5 billion), then rebounded in the first quarter of 2026 to KRW 67.6 billion on revenue of KRW 937.5 billion, before revenue crossed KRW 1 trillion for the first time in the second quarter of 2026 even as operating profit slipped to KRW 49.1 billion, a 4.9% margin.
Owner net income over the same span also declined from KRW 38.4 billion in the first quarter to KRW 22.7 billion in the second quarter of 2026.
Operating cash flow improved markedly, from negative KRW 29.1 billion in 2022 to KRW 307.5 billion in 2023, KRW 293.0 billion in 2024, and KRW 360.4 billion in 2025, indicating that the earnings recovery has translated into stronger cash generation.
The debt ratio also declined from 121.8% in 2022 to 113.4% in 2025, signaling gradual improvement in financial stability.
The global tire market is an oligopoly dominated by a handful of large makers including the three Korean producers—Hankook Tire, Kumho Tire, and Nexen Tire—which together are said to hold more than 50% of the tire and tube market.
Rival Hankook Tire has been expanding its Tennessee plant in the United States since the second half of 2022 with an investment of roughly KRW 2.1 trillion, while Kumho Tire has likewise increased capacity at its Georgia plant.
Nexen Tire, by contrast, operates only four plants across Korea, China, and Europe with no U.S. production base, a gap that industry observers have flagged as leaving it more exposed to shipping-rate, currency, and tariff swings.
In the third quarter of 2024, for instance, rising freight costs coincided with revenue and operating profit gains at both Hankook Tire and Kumho Tire, while Nexen Tire's operating profit declined, making it the only one of the three to post a weaker result.
Changes in U.S. auto and tire tariff policy are seen as a variable that could weigh disproportionately on Nexen Tire given its lack of a domestic U.S. plant.
On the demand side, both original-equipment premium tire demand and replacement tire demand continue in parallel, with the industry-wide push toward higher-value-added products such as EV-specific tires cited as a key profitability lever.
Nexen Tire disclosed in May 2023 a plan to build a fifth production plant, worth about USD 1.3 billion (roughly KRW 1.7-1.8 trillion), across eight southeastern U.S. states, but the plan has been revisited repeatedly since 2024 due to rising local construction and labor costs.
In August 2025, the company amended its disclosure to broaden the search area from the original eight southeastern U.S. states to "North America and other global regions,
Nexen's shares trade at a level well below the company's net asset value per share, a gap that can be read as reflecting both the structural discount typically applied to holding companies and the ongoing uncertainty around subsidiary Nexen Tire's earnings and investment plans.
On the earnings side, given the company's recovery from a near-breakeven result in 2022 through to 2025 as detailed above, the market capitalization remains relatively modest compared with the scale of profit generated.
On the dividend side, the company has maintained a cash dividend policy, though the resulting yield level changes daily with the share price and therefore cannot be pinned to a specific figure in this document.
It is nonetheless worth noting that, given the holding-company structure, how subsidiary dividends and earnings flow through to parent-company shareholders remains an important variable for valuation judgments.
Looking ahead, finalization of the new plant site, changes in the tariff environment, and the logistics segment's earnings contribution are among the factors that could influence how the market assesses valuation.
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 2026-08-21
Revenue grew for four consecutive years, from KRW 3.0 trillion in 2022 to KRW 3,586.5 billion in 2025, and quarterly revenue surpassed KRW 1 trillion for the first time in the second quarter of 2026.
Owner net income also climbed from a marginal profit in 2022 to KRW 91.2 billion in 2025, extending the earnings recovery. This indicates expanding scale in both the rubber-products and logistics businesses.
Operating cash flow improved markedly from negative territory in 2022 to KRW 360.4 billion in 2025. Over the same period, the debt ratio declined from 121.8% to 113.4%, gradually strengthening financial stability.
This can be viewed as a positive factor for future investment funding capacity and shareholder-return flexibility.
The Zatec plant in the Czech Republic completed its phase-two expansion, doubling capacity from 5.5 million to 11 million units. In its first-quarter 2026 results commentary, the company said expanding market share in strategic domestic products contributed to stronger profitability. The logistics segment also continues to contribute stably based on group-affiliated volumes.
Operating margin declined for three straight years, from 7.3% in 2023 to 6.5% in 2024 and 5.7% in 2025. In the second quarter of 2026, revenue rose again but operating margin eased to 4.9% from 7.2% in the prior quarter. Revenue growth has not been consistently translating into margin improvement.
Nexen Tire operates only four plants across Korea, China, and Europe and, unlike rivals Hankook Tire and Kumho Tire, has no U.S. production base. Industry observers have pointed out that this could leave the company more exposed to rising freight rates or tariff changes.
In the third quarter of 2024, this structural difference was cited as a factor behind a performance gap versus the other two Korean tire makers.
The USD 1.3 billion U.S. plant plan disclosed in May 2023 has been reconsidered multiple times since 2024, and in August 2025 the company filed an amended disclosure widening the search area beyond North America.
With the site still unconfirmed more than two years later, uncertainty over the timing and scale of the investment persists, reducing visibility into the medium-to-long-term capacity expansion strategy.
Changes in U.S. auto and tire tariff policy could affect the export economics of Nexen Tire, which lacks a domestic U.S. production base.
Countermeasures discussed in the industry include front-loading shipments ahead of tariff implementation and price adjustments, but a fundamental local-production response has not yet been put in place. Higher tariff levels could weigh on profitability from North American sales.
The prolonged delay in selecting a site for the fifth plant keeps uncertainty around investment size and timing alive. As the search area expands from North America to potential Latin American sites, the final decision could be delayed further. If a large-scale investment is eventually confirmed, it could weigh on the balance sheet in the near term.
Fluctuations in rubber and raw-material prices, ocean freight rates, and currency levels directly affect costs for the export-heavy tire business. Some of these cost factors are seen as having contributed to the operating-margin decline in 2024-2025. A renewed increase in raw-material or freight volatility could add further pressure on margins.
Third-quarter 2026 results are due to be disclosed—worth checking whether the operating margin, which eased to 4.9% in the second quarter, recovers, and how the profit structure of the rubber and logistics segments evolves.
Watch for any further disclosure on Nexen Tire's fifth-plant site selection—whether the review region (North America, Latin America, etc.) is finalized along with concrete investment size and timing.
Monitor changes in U.S. auto and tire tariff policy and how Nexen Tire adjusts export volumes and pricing toward North America in response.
Check for year-end dividend disclosure and the confirmed per-share dividend amount—an indicator of how the earnings recovery is reflected in dividend policy.
Nexen is an operating holding company controlling Nexen Tire and Nexen D&S; revenue grew for four consecutive years from 2022 to 2025, and owner net income recovered from a near-breakeven level to KRW 91.2 billion over the same span.
Operating margin, however, trended down from 7.3% in 2023 to 5.7% in 2025, and in the second quarter of 2026, even as revenue exceeded KRW 1 trillion for the first time in the disclosed quarterly window, margin eased again to 4.9%.
Operating cash flow improved and the debt ratio declined, pointing to gradually strengthening financial stability.
Core subsidiary Nexen Tire still lacks a U.S. production base, and site selection for its fifth plant has been delayed for more than two years, leaving the direction of its global supply-chain strategy unsettled.
The completed European expansion in the Czech Republic and gains in strategic-product market share stand out as positive factors, while changes in the tariff environment and cost pressures remain variables that could weigh on margins.
This report does not offer a buy or sell recommendation or a price target, and investment decisions remain the reader's own responsibility.
Report written 2026-09-05 · Data as of 2026-09-04
This content is AI analysis of market data and web search results, provided for information only. It is not a solicitation or recommendation to invest. Investment decisions and their consequences are the investor's own responsibility. Data may be delayed or contain errors.