YeaRimDang Publishing

Founded in 1989, Yerimdang is a specialized children's book publisher whose core content is the educational comic series 'Why?', supporting operations in book production and sales, copyright licensing, e-book publishing, animation production, leasing, and logistics.

The company also runs a separate early-childhood brand, 'Smart Bear,' aimed at expanding into a younger demographic. Drawing on more than four decades of accumulated copyrighted imagery and editorial know-how, Yerimdang has pursued globalization by exporting titles across multiple languages and countries.

In the past, the company's structure was dominated by low-cost carrier TWay Airlines (held via subsidiary TWay Holdings), acquired in 2012, which accounted for the vast majority of consolidated revenue, but in February 2025 Yerimdang sold its entire stake to Daemyung Sono Group, fully exiting the airline business.

Following the sale, the company's business reverted to its original publishing core, while the cash proceeds were redeployed into financial assets such as equities and deposits, becoming a meaningful contributor to net income.

In August 2026, Yerimdang signed a deal to acquire a 90% stake in semiconductor test equipment maker Future High-Tech, marking a second diversification push.

In the domestic children's publishing market, the company competes against large education publishers such as Woongjin Thinkbig and Kyowon amid an industry-wide contraction driven by a shrinking school-age population and the spread of digital content.

In semiconductor test equipment, global leaders such as Advantest, Teradyne, and Cohu dominate the market, while Future High-Tech is understood to be a relatively small player focused on semiconductor components such as PCBs and probe interfaces.

The provided annual figures are on a continuing-operations basis, showing revenue steadily declining from 26.37 billion won in 2022 to 20.55 billion won in 2023, 17.01 billion won in 2024, and 10.26 billion won in 2025.

Operating profit swung from a small gain of 0.29 billion won in 2022 to losses of 2.75 billion won in 2023 and 4.90 billion won in 2024, before the loss narrowed to 1.42 billion won in 2025.

In contrast, net income attributable to owners moved from -8.90 billion won in 2022 to +9.01 billion won in 2023 and back to -8.72 billion won in 2024, before posting an exceptionally large gain of 134.27 billion won in 2025—a jump interpreted as reflecting one-off items recorded below the revenue and operating profit lines.

Looking at the most recent four quarters, Q3 2025 posted revenue of 2.52 billion won, an operating loss of 0.64 billion won, and owner net income of 1.06 billion won; Q4 2025 showed revenue of 2.43 billion won, an operating loss of 0.37 billion won, and net income of 7.61 billion won.

Q1 2026 saw revenue rise to 3.18 billion won with operating profit turning positive at 0.14 billion won, yet net income swung to a loss of 0.88 billion won. Q2 2026 recorded revenue of 2.40 billion won and an operating loss of 0.26 billion won, while net income reached 9.77 billion won.

This pattern—modest, relatively stable swings in revenue and operating profit alongside dramatically volatile quarterly net income—indicates that gains and losses on managed financial assets such as equities and deposits, and interest income, have a far greater influence on net income than the publishing business itself.

Korea's children's and educational publishing market faces structural headwinds from a shrinking school-age population and a shift in attention toward social media and video content, with the company itself citing rising royalty payments and content production costs as pressures on profitability.

According to Korea Publishers Association data, Yerimdang's 2024 revenue fell 7.9% year-on-year to about 11.8 billion won, positioning it as a mid-tier player within the single-volume publishing segment.

Against this backdrop, the company has responded with efforts targeting younger age groups (Smart Bear), expanding Why? series topics, and pursuing overseas expansion, though these are seen as having limited ability to offset the sector-wide contraction.

The newly entered semiconductor test equipment market, by contrast, has an entirely different character.

Market researcher Mordor Intelligence projects the global semiconductor test equipment market to grow from USD 16.04 billion in 2026 to USD 21.59 billion by 2031 at a CAGR of 6.12%, with Advantest, Teradyne, and Cohu together holding roughly 55% of the market.

Industry observers expect global semiconductor equipment sales to keep rising on the back of expanding memory chip capital expenditure, with test equipment demand growing in tandem.

However, Yerimdang's position in this market through Future High-Tech remains that of a small, relatively late entrant, with a technology and scale gap versus the major global players.

In an interview with IB Tomato, the company said it expects growth by entering a growth industry beyond publishing, aiming to generate returns exceeding its investment on the back of semiconductor industry growth.

Future High-Tech's revenue grew from 13.9 billion won and net income of 1.3 billion won in 2024 to revenue of 31.1 billion won and net income of 5.1 billion won in 2025, and in the first half of 2026 alone it recorded revenue of 21.6 billion won, already surpassing half of last year's full-year figure.

However, as of August 2026 this acquisition remains at the contract-signing stage, and the timing of deal closing and its reflection in consolidated financial statements will need to be confirmed through future disclosures.

In the publishing segment, standalone revenue rose 16.1% year-on-year in Q1 2026 with operating profit turning positive, though the segment reportedly still posted a modest operating loss for the first half overall, making the durability of the improvement worth monitoring.

The company is seeking to improve publishing profitability by expanding Why? series topics, growing Smart Bear's market share, and pursuing overseas expansion.

On the net income side, financial investment using the company's large cash holdings is expected to remain a key variable, with the direction of investment gains or losses likely to hinge on domestic stock market conditions in the second half.