KOSDAQSemiconductors251370

Ymt

₩9,380▲ 3.99%2026-10-02 close

Market Cap

₩168.4B

Turnover

₩2B

Volume

210,000 shares

Shares out.

18M

PER

—

PBR

0.6×

EPS

-₩227

Dividend Yield

0.00%

PER, EPS, PBR and BPS are calculated in-house from the last 4 quarters (2025Q3–2026Q2) · Dividend yield is based on ₩0 per share · Prices as of the 2026-10-02 close

Report overview

Profit Recovery Yet Owners' Net Loss Persists

Operating profit shows a clear recovery trend, but net income attributable to owners has remained in the red for four straight years as non-operating volatility stays a key swing factor.

1
2025 consolidated revenue reached KRW 144.6 billion with operating profit of KRW 12.9 billion (OPM 8.9%), an improvement year-on-year, yet net income attributable to owners stayed negative at KRW -1.68 billion.
2
Q2 2026 revenue hit a quarterly record of KRW 41.2 billion, but operating margin fell to 3.8% and owners' net income swung back to a loss of KRW -2.63 billion.
3
Electroless nickel-palladium-gold plating (ENEPIG) and through-glass-via (TGV) plating chemicals are emerging as growth pillars tied to AI servers and the new glass-substrate business.
4
A lawsuit of roughly KRW 15.3 billion related to a Chinese subsidiary equity buyback is ongoing; the company acknowledges the principal payment obligation but disputes the claimed penalties and default interest.
5
The debt ratio rose from 63.8% in 2022 to 78.3% in 2024 before easing to 71.2% in 2025, while operating cash flow improved sharply to KRW 17.5 billion in 2025.

Business structure

Established in 1999 and listed on KOSDAQ in 2017, YMT is a chemical materials specialist for printed circuit boards (PCB), semiconductors, and displays.

Its core business is surface-treatment chemicals centered on gold and copper plating chemistries, having commercialized electroless nickel-palladium-gold (ENEPIG) plating domestically and secured Taiwan's Victory Giant Technology (VGT) as a reference customer.

As of the end of 2024, revenue mix was estimated at about 29% final surface treatment, 30% merchandise and other, 13% board processing, and 13% copper plating.

Its wholly owned subsidiary YPT has run an outsourced plating business since 2007 and recently built a dedicated glass-substrate (TGV) plating line, forming a vertically integrated structure spanning chemicals (YMT) and processing (YPT).

Production has expanded beyond Korea to a plant in Zhuhai, Guangdong, China, and a facility in Vinh Phuc, Vietnam, building out a global supply chain. Major customers include global electronic component makers such as Samsung Electro-Mechanics.

The global PCB plating chemical market is estimated at roughly KRW 4 trillion, an oligopoly in which large US and Japanese chemical firms hold over 80% share, and YMT is regarded as one of the few Korean firms to have entered this market with proprietary technology.

New growth pillars include expanding into the package substrate (PKG) market, commercializing TGV plating chemicals and processes for glass substrates, and a joint development partnership with DuPont for FC-BGA/FC-CSP advanced packaging signed in December 2024.

Earnings trend

Quarterly revenue · Operating profit

₩35.1B₩4B25Q2₩36.1B₩3.2B25Q3₩38.4B₩4.2B25Q4₩35B₩2.6B26Q1₩41.2B₩1.6B26Q2

RevenueOperating profit

Annual revenue · Operating profit

₩130.6B₩3.3B2022₩127.4B-₩3.2B2023₩137.2B₩3.6B2024₩144.6B₩12.9B2025

RevenueOperating profit

Quarterly results · Last 5 quarters
Quarter	Revenue	Operating profit	Op. margin
2025Q2	₩35.1B	₩4B	11.5%
2025Q3	₩36.1B	₩3.2B	8.9%
2025Q4	₩38.4B	₩4.2B	10.8%
2026Q1	₩35B	₩2.6B	7.4%
2026Q2	₩41.2B	₩1.6B	3.8%

Annual results
Year	Revenue	Operating profit	Net income (parent)	Op. margin	ROE	Debt-to-equity
2022	₩130.6B	₩3.3B	-₩52,189,198	2.6%	0.0%	63.8%
2023	₩127.4B	-₩3.2B	-₩2.9B	−2.5%	−2.4%	68.6%
2024	₩137.2B	₩3.6B	-₩4.3B	2.6%	−2.5%	78.3%
2025	₩144.6B	₩12.9B	-₩1.7B	8.9%	−0.9%	71.2%

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

Earnings analysis

2025 consolidated revenue rose to KRW 144.6 billion from KRW 137.2 billion in 2024, and operating profit expanded sharply to KRW 12.9 billion from KRW 3.6 billion, lifting the operating margin from 2.6% to 8.9%.

However, net income attributable to owners remained negative at KRW -1.68 billion, diverging from the total consolidated net income of KRW 1.47 billion.

This marks four consecutive years of owners' net losses following KRW -0.05 billion in 2022, KRW -2.89 billion in 2023, and KRW -4.34 billion in 2024, with market commentary pointing to recurring non-operating items such as derivative valuation losses tied to convertible bonds (CB) and bonds with warrants (BW) as a repeated drag on owners' net income.

On a quarterly basis, Q2 2025 posted revenue of KRW 35.1 billion, operating profit of KRW 4.02 billion, and owners' net income of KRW 1.25 billion, while Q3 2025 showed revenue of KRW 36.1 billion, operating profit of KRW 3.21 billion, and owners' net income of KRW 0.88 billion, both relatively stable.

Q4 2025, however, saw solid operating results with revenue of KRW 38.4 billion and operating profit of KRW 4.15 billion, yet owners' net income plunged to KRW -4.44 billion.

Q1 2026 returned to profit with revenue of KRW 35.0 billion, operating profit of KRW 2.58 billion (margin about 7.4%), and owners' net income of KRW 2.17 billion, but Q2 2026 set a quarterly revenue record of KRW 41.2 billion while operating profit fell to KRW 1.58 billion (margin 3.8%) and owners' net income swung back to a loss of KRW -2.63 billion.

As a result, the trailing four-quarter sum (Q3 2025 through Q2 2026) of owners' net income stands at KRW -4.02 billion, still in negative territory.

On the balance sheet side, operating cash flow jumped to KRW 17.5 billion in 2025 from KRW 7.0 billion in 2024, and equity attributable to owners expanded to KRW 189.0 billion, suggesting an improvement in the underlying quality of earnings generation.

Industry analysis

The global PCB plating chemical market is estimated at roughly KRW 4 trillion, an oligopoly dominated by large US and Japanese chemical firms holding over 80% share.

Rising demand for high-density, high-reliability mounting from AI servers, 5G, and automotive electronics is understood to be driving a recovery in demand for gold and copper plating chemicals used in advanced logic chips.

The glass substrate market, seen as a next-generation semiconductor packaging material, is projected by MarketsandMarkets to grow from USD 7.1 billion in 2023 to USD 8.4 billion in 2028.

Within this market, equipment (laser processing, etching, inspection) and materials/plating (chemicals, processes) play distinct roles: Chemtronics has built a pilot line at its Jaewoo-3 Cheonan site targeting mass production by late 2026 or 2027, while Avaco and Avatec began operating a pilot line in 2026 aiming to supply TGV samples within the year.

YMT has independently developed 'Full Fill' copper plating technology to fill TGV holes and has already supplied first samples to customers, with this process considered a bottleneck step determining the electrical reliability of glass substrates.

Samsung Electro-Mechanics is reportedly close to operating a glass-substrate pilot production line in Sejong, and YMT is said to have joined technology-cooperation discussions alongside Corning and other Korean partners.

Still, the TGV process remains at the trial-production and sampling stage industry-wide, viewed as an early-stage segment that will take time before generating large-scale revenue.

Outlook

The company and sell-side commentary point to 2026 growth drivers including higher shipment volumes and new form-factor launches from a North American smartphone customer boosting mobile-segment sales, growth from newly secured customers, and accelerating ENEPIG sales.

Indeed, China subsidiary revenue reportedly doubled year-on-year in Q2 2025, which the company attributed to its final surface treatment (ENEPIG) process receiving official qualification from a Taiwan-based AI graphics board maker, triggering full-scale supply.

In the glass-substrate business, subsidiary YPT announced a plating equipment investment of about KRW 10 billion in February 2026, securing glass-substrate plating capacity of roughly 1,500 panels per month to address demand beyond R&D and customer sampling and into the pre-mass-production stage.

Samsung Electro-Mechanics is reportedly nearing final equipment inspection for its Sejong pilot line, and YMT is said to be participating in technology-cooperation discussions for mass production alongside Corning and others.

The FC-BGA/FC-CSP advanced packaging joint-development partnership signed with DuPont in December 2024 is cited as a third growth pillar targeting the chemical materials market for integrated device manufacturers.

That said, Eugene Investment & Securities maintained a 'Not Rated' rating in its April 27, 2026 report without setting a target price, indicating that formal brokerage coverage with buy/sell recommendations remains limited for the company.

The progress of the lawsuit involving the Chinese subsidiary and any settlement discussions also remain a variable that could affect future earnings and cash flow.

Valuation

PER

—

PBR

0.6×

ROE

-2.2%

EPS

-₩227

BPS

₩11,720

Dividend per share

₩0

The current share price trades at a level below 1 times book value, suggesting the market is applying a discount to net asset value rather than a premium.

With owners' net income still in a loss position on a trailing four-quarter combined basis, a meaningful price-to-earnings figure cannot be calculated, illustrating how non-operating swings continue to affect per-share metrics separately from the 2025 operating profit improvement.

There has been no recent cash dividend payment, making it difficult to assess shareholder-return appeal through a dividend yield lens.

Over a multi-year view, the operating business has moved from a loss (2023) into a recovering profit trend with expanding scale, but on an owners' net-income basis a full turn to profitability has not yet been achieved.

This gap between operating results and net income is a metric market watchers are tracking, as a reduction or disappearance of CB/BW-related derivative valuation swings could narrow it going forward.

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

Bull factors

Niche Technology in AI Server and Glass Substrate Materials

ENEPIG and TGV 'Full Fill' copper plating represent cases where the company entered a market long dominated by large US and Japanese chemical firms using proprietary domestic technology.

Technology-cooperation discussions with Samsung Electro-Mechanics and the FC-BGA/FC-CSP partnership with DuPont open new market access routes targeting integrated device manufacturers' chemical materials needs.

Subsidiary YPT's expansion of glass-substrate plating capacity demonstrates execution on a vertically integrated structure combining chemicals and processing.

Recovering Operating Leverage and Improved Cash Generation

The 2025 operating margin reached 8.9%, a clear recovery from the 2023 operating loss. Operating cash flow also grew substantially to KRW 17.5 billion in 2025 versus the prior year, improving the conversion of profit into cash.

Expanding China subsidiary sales alongside cost-structure improvements are laying the groundwork for combined revenue and profit growth.

Diversified Global Customers and Production Bases

Expansion of overseas production sites in Zhuhai, China and Vinh Phuc, Vietnam, along with official ENEPIG qualification from a Taiwan-based AI graphics board maker, shows a geographically diversifying customer base.

Anticipated higher shipment volumes from a North American smartphone customer are also cited as supporting the mobile-segment revenue base.

Bear factors

Owners' Net Loss for Four Consecutive Years

Owners' net income was negative every year from 2022 through 2025, and even in 2026 has oscillated between a profit in Q1 and a loss again in Q2. A structural issue remains where operating profit improvement does not translate directly into income attributable to shareholders. Even on a trailing four-quarter combined basis, the figure remains in net-loss territory.

Widening Quarter-to-Quarter Profitability Swings

In both Q4 2025 and Q2 2026, revenue was solid, but operating margin or net income swung significantly. Q2 2026 operating margin fell clearly to 3.8% from the prior quarter. Separately from the revenue growth trend, the low predictability of profit is a point worth noting.

Ongoing Legal and Financial Risk

A lawsuit of roughly KRW 15.3 billion concerning a Chinese subsidiary equity buyback is ongoing, a sum equivalent to a meaningful share of equity. The debt ratio, having risen to 78.3% in 2024, eased somewhat to 71.2% in 2025 but remains in the 70% range.

Volatility in derivative valuation gains/losses tied to convertible bonds and bonds with warrants is also flagged as a financial risk.

Risk factors

Legal Risk

The claim filed at the Shenzhen Intermediate People's Court over an equity buyback totals about RMB 74.85 million (roughly KRW 15.3 billion), equal to 6.73% of equity.

The company acknowledges the RMB 43.5 million principal payment obligation but disputes the claimed default interest, penalties, and joint-guarantee liability. Settlement discussions are proceeding separately from the litigation, but the outcome could still result in additional one-off costs.

Financial and Capital Risk

Derivative valuation gains and losses tied to convertible bonds (CB) and bonds with warrants (BW) are understood to have significantly swung owners' quarterly net income. The debt ratio rose from 63.8% in 2022 to 78.3% in 2024 before easing to 71.2% in 2025. An increase in shares outstanding from CB/BW conversions could act as a dilution factor for per-share metrics.

Industry and Competitive Risk

The global PCB plating chemical market remains an oligopoly with large US and Japanese chemical firms holding over 80% share, meaning expansion of share for a newer entrant could take time.

The glass-substrate (TGV) business is still at the trial-production and sampling stage, an early phase where a competitive landscape involving Chemtronics, Avaco, and Avatec is still forming, and delays in commercialization cannot be ruled out.

Revenue volatility could also increase depending on demand cycles in end markets such as smartphones and servers.

What to watch next

Mid-November 2026
Q3 2026 earnings disclosure should be checked to see whether the operating margin rebounds from the Q2 decline and whether owners' net income returns to profit.
Second half of 2026
Progress in the Shenzhen Intermediate People's Court lawsuit and any settlement between the parties should be monitored to assess the potential for contingent costs.
Second half of 2026 through 2027
Whether Samsung Electro-Mechanics' Sejong glass-substrate pilot line becomes operational and transitions to mass production, along with any resulting increase in TGV plating volumes for YMT and YPT, should be tracked.
Fourth quarter of 2026
Following the launch of YPT's roughly 1,500-panel-per-month glass-substrate plating facility, it should be checked whether this leads to customer sample approvals and pre-mass-production orders.
Late 2027
Around the customer JWMT's targeted completion of a new plant (roughly 30,000 panels per month), it should be checked whether related chemical and plating demand actually expands as anticipated.

Overall view

YMT is a materials company that has entered an oligopolistic market for PCB and semiconductor plating chemicals with proprietary technology, showing a clear recovery as its 2025 operating margin improved to 8.9%.

However, net income attributable to owners posted losses for four consecutive years from 2022 through 2025, and in 2026 has continued to oscillate—profitable in Q1, back to a loss in Q2—so the gap between operating performance and income attributable to shareholders persists.

Market analysis attributes much of this gap to non-operating factors such as derivative valuation gains and losses tied to convertible bonds and bonds with warrants.

New growth pillars such as glass substrates (TGV), ENEPIG, and the DuPont partnership remain at the trial-production, sampling, or early-cooperation stage, leaving the timing of their revenue contribution uncertain.

A roughly KRW 15.3 billion lawsuit involving the Chinese subsidiary and a debt ratio in the 70% range are financial variables that warrant attention.

Overall, operating-side recovery coexists with net-income instability, and the stabilization of non-operating items along with progress in commercializing the glass-substrate business are likely to be the key points to watch in coming quarters.

Sources

Korea Exchange (KRX) — Prices · Market Cap · Volume
FSS electronic disclosure system (DART) — Financial statements · Dividend filings

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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.