Hankuk Steel Wire

Hankook Sunjae was founded in 1974 and listed on KOSDAQ in 1995, with headquarters in Saha-gu, Busan. Its core operations are organized into wire, stainless, and steel trading divisions, with the wire division—producing galvanized steel wire, hard-drawn wire, and wire rope—forming the backbone of the business.

The stainless division's products, including weaving wire, are exported overseas including to Japan on the strength of quality competitiveness. The steel trading division distributes steel products, while the company's former section-steel manufacturing has been discontinued.

The company expanded into instrumentation and plant-grade fitting and valve businesses through subsidiary Hansun Engineering, established in 2012, and Kisung Metal, acquired in 2018.

These two subsidiaries supply products to industries requiring precision control, including petrochemicals, shipbuilding and offshore, semiconductors, hydrogen fuel cells, and energy storage systems.

Hansun Engineering listed on KOSDAQ in November 2024 and is the sole domestic tier-1 vendor for Bloom Energy, benefiting from growing demand related to solid oxide fuel cells (SOFC).

The largest shareholder group, led by an individual holding company affiliate, controls a 38.25% stake, while fellow steel-wire maker Manho Jegang holds 6.41%.

FY2025 annual revenue was KRW 219.4 billion, down slightly from KRW 223.4 billion in 2024, while operating profit rose to KRW 8.17 billion from KRW 6.03 billion, lifting the operating margin from 2.7% to 3.7%.

Net income attributable to owners turned positive at KRW 0.33 billion, reversing a KRW 1.23 billion loss in 2024. However, given consecutive owner-attributable losses in 2023 (-KRW 2.33 billion) and 2024, the 2025 turnaround to profit remains an early-stage recovery rather than a decisive one.

By comparison, 2022 was the strongest of the past four years, with revenue of KRW 245.5 billion, operating profit of KRW 11.3 billion, and owners' net income of KRW 13.8 billion.

On a quarterly basis, Q2 2025 was solid with revenue of KRW 56.1 billion, operating profit of KRW 5.17 billion, and owners' net income of KRW 3.76 billion, but this was followed by clear deceleration and losses in Q3 2025 (operating profit of KRW 2.79 billion) and Q4 2025 (operating loss of KRW 0.04 billion, net loss of KRW 3.33 billion).

In 2026, revenue surged year-over-year to KRW 66.1 billion in Q1 and KRW 71.7 billion in Q2, with operating profit jumping to KRW 8.16 billion and KRW 9.23 billion respectively, yet Q1 owners' net income was -KRW 2.10 billion, moving opposite to the operating profit trend.

This suggests non-operating items or equity-method factors have materially affected quarterly net income swings.

Over the trailing four quarters (Q3 2025 through Q2 2026), combined owners' net income remained negative at -KRW 1.33 billion, indicating that operational improvement has not yet translated consistently into owner-attributable profitability.

Operating cash flow was also negative in 2025 at -KRW 2.94 billion, continuing a pattern seen in 2022 (-KRW 9.67 billion) and 2024 (-KRW 3.85 billion), with only 2023 (+KRW 5.20 billion) showing a positive exception.

The steel wire industry is largely an intermediate-goods business, with demand driven by downstream investment cycles in construction, automotive, and machinery. Public filings have noted an outlook of weak demand for wire and steel products given a slowdown in domestic construction investment.

By contrast, the fitting and valve business carried out through subsidiaries operates in a different cycle.

Industry observers have assessed that the medium- to long-term growth potential for fittings and valves remains intact, citing simultaneous tailwinds from expanding global LNG projects, renewed Middle East plant investment, and expectations around domestic nuclear power exports.

In practice, Hansun Engineering and Kisung Metal have been expanding overseas client bases by securing supplier certifications from Middle East and Southeast Asian energy companies.

Comparable steel-wire makers include Manho Jegang and DSR Jegang, which face similarly exposure to construction and industrial demand along with raw material price swings.

Overall, the Hankook Sunjae group reflects a dual structure in which a traditional wire business facing demand softness coexists with a relatively higher-growth subsidiary fitting and valve business.

For H1 2026 on a consolidated basis, one industry data source reported revenue up 25.9% and operating profit up 220.6% year-over-year, while net income fell 64.6% (per a corporate monitor summary as of August 31, 2026).

This pattern suggests that while the core business and the fitting/valve segment delivered clear revenue and operating profit improvement, non-operating factors weighed heavily on the bottom line.

The fitting and valve segment's revenue growth was attributed to new supplier certifications from Middle East and Southeast Asian energy companies and participation in domestic petrochemical projects.

On June 1, 2026, the company's board approved a plan to dispose of a 3.72% stake (715,564 shares) in subsidiary Hansun Engineering for approximately KRW 20.014 billion, intended to fund shareholder returns and improve the balance sheet, but withdrew the plan on June 17 after Hansun Engineering's share price fell more than 30% from the reference closing price, triggering a statutory withdrawal condition.

As a result, the planned cash infusion was not realized, and whether or when the company might revisit a similar plan remains unconfirmed.

The next regular filing, the Q3 2026 quarterly report, is due under capital markets law by November 16, 2026, which should clarify the direction of Q3 revenue, operating profit, and net income, and whether the trailing four-quarter net loss trend is improving.