Stormtec

Founded in 1999, StormTech specializes in fluid-control components used inside water purifiers and other household appliances, and listed on KOSDAQ in November 2023.

Most revenue comes from water purifier parts, with the core fitting product accounting for 62% of parts revenue, followed by valves (13%), tubing/assembly (19%), and faucets (5%).

The company holds roughly 80% domestic market share in fittings, giving it a near-monopoly position, while its valve market share remains at only 4.3%. Key customers include Coway and Cheongho Nice, along with Cuckoo, LG Electronics, SK Magic, and Samsung, with relationships spanning up to 25 years.

The company supplies parts reliably to finished-product makers such as LG Electronics through automated production systems and quality control.

It is diversifying product applications beyond water purifiers into dishwashers, washing machines, refrigerators, humidifiers, dehumidifiers, and air purifiers, while also operating a separate printed circuit board (PCB) business whose profitability remains limited due to cost pressure.

Although classified under the chemical sector on KOSDAQ, the company's actual business is closer to precision plastic injection-molded component manufacturing.

Because revenue is directly linked to the sales and rental performance of finished-product makers, strong sales at Coway, the domestic market leader in water purifiers, create a spillover effect that boosts parts demand.

Consolidated revenue in 2025 rose 4.1% year over year to KRW 69.68bn from KRW 66.91bn, but operating profit fell 3.9% to KRW 11.94bn, and operating margin narrowed to 17.1% from 18.6%.

Net income attributable to owners dropped 28.9% to KRW 10.21bn from KRW 14.35bn, widening the gap between revenue growth and profit decline.

Operating margin has steadily contracted over the past four years, from 23.1% in 2022 to 21.1% in 2023, 18.6% in 2024, and 17.1% in 2025, even as revenue climbed from KRW 51.03bn to KRW 69.68bn over the same period.

On a quarterly basis, results peaked in 2Q25 (revenue KRW 20.24bn, operating profit KRW 4.16bn) before sequentially softening through 3Q25 (KRW 18.99bn, KRW 3.80bn) and 4Q25 (KRW 15.44bn, KRW 2.20bn), with 1Q26 (KRW 16.30bn, KRW 2.28bn) remaining subdued.

Revenue rebounded in 2Q26 to KRW 20.77bn with operating profit of KRW 4.59bn, producing the highest operating margin (about 22%) of the recent five quarters.

Combined revenue over the most recent four quarters (3Q25–2Q26) totaled roughly KRW 71.50bn, with owner net income of KRW 10.97bn, exceeding full-year 2025 net income of KRW 10.21bn and suggesting a recovery after the trough.

Operating cash flow reached KRW 13.75bn in 2025, comfortably above net income, and the company has generated more than KRW 9bn in annual operating cash flow in each of the past four years.

The fact that net income declined more sharply than operating profit points to non-operating items as a contributing factor, while cost pressure in the separately operated PCB business also weighed on overall profitability.

The global home water purifier market is expected to grow at a double-digit average annual rate, driven by water contamination concerns and rising health awareness, with the Asia-Pacific region seen as the key growth engine.

In Korea, Coway has maintained a dominant position, having ranked first in brand value for water purifiers for 21 consecutive years, and it also topped the purchase-ease index for water purifiers and bidets in 2026, underscoring the continued dominance of leading finished-product makers.

The domestic water purifier market has shifted from outright purchase toward rental models, shortening replacement cycles in a way that translates into recurring demand for a parts supplier like StormTech.

StormTech holds a near-monopoly position in fittings with roughly 80% domestic share, but its valve market share of only 4.3% leaves relatively more room for competition in that segment. Expansion of finished-product makers' overseas sales can serve as an indirect revenue growth channel for the parts supplier.

However, the water purifier parts market itself has already entered a mature phase, limiting further high growth from the fitting segment alone, and the company's future growth trajectory hinges on the success of its valve and non-water-purifier parts diversification.

To expand valve revenue, the company acquired land and a building in Ansan City in May 2025 and began construction of a second factory with an automated valve line.

The original plan was to complete equipment installation and begin commercial production in 2025, gradually raising utilization to 90% within three years, while lifting valve market share from 4.3% toward a medium-term target of 30%.

However, according to an iM Securities report dated December 2025, the timeline for equipment installation, operation, and financial contribution has slipped by more than a year, and the plan changed from using the acquired factory as-is to demolishing and rebuilding it, disrupting the original goal of ramping up valve revenue in earnest during 2026.

As a result, a meaningful revenue contribution from the valve segment may be pushed beyond 2026.

On shareholder returns, the three-year policy announced in February 2024, which directed at least 30% of free cash flow toward dividends, concludes with fiscal year 2025, and the company is expected to announce a new dividend policy sometime in 2026.

The track record of semi-annual cash dividends since listing (interim dividends of KRW 2.8bn and KRW 2.7bn, and year-end dividends of KRW 4.0bn each, for fiscal 2023 and 2024) could serve as a reference point for the new policy.

Overall, in the near term the company remains reliant on the stable cash generation of its existing fitting business, while progress on the valve expansion and the announcement of a new dividend policy stand as key items to monitor going forward.