# Youlchon Chem (008730.KO)

Canonical: https://gigainvestors.com/s/008730.KO

Analysis as of: 2026-10-16T07:49:57.518Z. Financial observations: FY2009–FY2026.

Listing currency: KRW. Reporting currency: KRW.

## Verdict

Not a wonderful business

Quality tests for Buy: not passed (profit record: fail; earnings resilience is evidence only). Published buy qualification: no.

Share price: KRW 13,960.00 per share; close as of 2026-10-15.

## Checklist

### understandable: fail

- 3 revenue declines in the last 10 years (informational)

- more than 2 net loss years

- operating margin variation exceeds 0.35

- Financial history: 10 years

- Years with declining revenue: 3

- Years with a net loss: 3

- Operating margin variation: 2.09×

Chart: Operating margin; fiscal year observations.

- FY2017: 0.08×

- FY2018: 0.04×

- FY2019: 0.05×

- FY2020: 0.05×

- FY2021: 0.02×

- FY2022: -0.01×

- FY2023: -0.04×

- FY2024: -0.04×

- FY2025: 0.02×

- LTM to Jun 2026: 0.01×

### moat: fail

- ROIC median below threshold

- ROIC worst years below threshold (more than 1 bad year allowed)

- Recent gross margin fell 5.7pp below the typical margin (limit 4pp)

- ROIC, median of available years: 2.4%

- ROIC, second-lowest year: -2.5%

- Typical minus recent gross margin: 5.7 pp

- Typical gross margin (annual median): 11.0%

- Recent gross margin (lower of latest and 3-year median): 5.3%

- Years with nonpositive capital: 0

- Capital spending / revenue: 7.7%

- ROIC including acquisitions, ten-year median: -0.5%

Chart: ROIC excluding acquisitions; fiscal year observations.

- FY2016: 5.5%

- FY2017: 7.1%

- FY2018: 3.0%

- FY2019: 4.2%

- FY2020: 5.2%

- FY2021: 1.8%

- FY2022: -0.9%

- FY2023: -2.5%

- FY2024: -2.7%

- FY2025: 1.3%

### economics: fail

- owner earnings cash conversion below threshold

- incremental invested capital return below threshold

- Cash conversion uses consolidated totals: No

- Owner earnings, five-year total: KRW -70B

- Net income, five-year total: KRW -19B

- Return on incremental invested capital: -4.4%

- Working capital / revenue, annual change: 0.7 pp

- Working capital / revenue, change between three-year averages: 5.5 pp

- Working capital / revenue, final three-year average: 30.6%

Chart: Owner earnings · five years; fiscal year observations.

- FY2021: KRW 8.3B

- FY2022: KRW -11B

- FY2023: KRW -45B

- FY2024: KRW -27B

- FY2025: KRW 4.0B

### management: fail

- Historical market-dollar context (not the management verdict): 2016 to 2025 (9 years)

- buybacks unrelated to price (informational)

- ROIC first 3 years vs last 3 years: 5.5% vs -2.5%

- Per-share earnings: 843.56 to -344.00 (three-year endpoint medians)

- per-share value declined or ends nonpositive

- Management verdict uses per-share economic progress: Yes

- Ordinary dilution, 5-year annual growth: -0.0%

- Market cap gain: KRW 291B

- Cumulative retained earnings: KRW -30B

- Diluted shares, 5-year annual growth: -0.0%

- $1 test, starting fiscal year: FY2016

- $1 test, ending fiscal year: FY2025

- Per-share value change: KRW -1K

- Per-share value, starting three-year median: KRW 843.56

- Per-share value, ending three-year median: KRW -344.00

- Buybacks concentrated in cheaper years (correlation): -0.50

- Average buyback yield: 0.1%

- Buyback history: 3 years

- Debt-funded buybacks: No

- Acquisition spending: KRW 13B

- Cumulative net income, 10 years: KRW 82B

- ROIC, first three-year median: 5.5%

- ROIC, last three-year median: -2.5%

Chart: Earnings per share; fiscal year observations.

- FY2016: KRW 843.56

- FY2017: KRW 1K

- FY2018: KRW 593.38

- FY2019: KRW 734.37

- FY2020: KRW 813.62

- FY2021: KRW 340.83

- FY2022: KRW -167.00

- FY2023: KRW -769.00

- FY2024: KRW -344.00

- FY2025: KRW 168.00

### accounting: pass

- Sloan accruals: -3.3%

- Receivables to sales index (DSRI): 0.95×

- Restructuring years, last five: 0

- Earnings backed by cash: Yes

- Operating cash / earnings: 6.52×

- Accounting red flags: 0

- Goodwill and intangibles / equity: 0.03×

Chart: Sloan accruals; fiscal year observations.

- FY2016: -6.4%

- FY2017: -6.1%

- FY2018: -1.0%

- FY2019: -3.5%

- FY2020: -6.2%

- FY2021: -3.8%

- FY2022: -3.0%

- FY2023: -4.3%

- FY2024: -2.6%

- FY2025: -3.3%

## Holders

## Price story

Down 71% since Feb 2023 · sales +6.4%

Story as of 2026-10-16T10:00:13.827Z; price observation 2026-10-15.

### Sales · FY2025–2026

sales +6.4%; source https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/; observed 2026-10-16.

- FY2017: KRW 492B 

- FY2018: KRW 490B 

- FY2019: KRW 507B 

- FY2020: KRW 521B 

- FY2021: KRW 539B 

- FY2022: KRW 458B 

- FY2023: KRW 414B 

- FY2024: KRW 457B 

- FY2025: KRW 485B 

- FY2026: KRW 516B 

### Gross margin · FY2025

gross margin 10.4%; source https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/; observed 2026-10-16.

- FY2016: 14.3% 

- FY2017: 15.7% 

- FY2018: 11.5% 

- FY2019: 13.2% 

- FY2020: 13.5% 

- FY2021: 9.9% 

- FY2022: 7.6% 

- FY2023: 4.7% 

- FY2024: 5.3% 

- FY2025: 10.4% 

## Owner memo

Memo as of 2026-10-16T08:06:05.509Z.

### How it makes money

Operates in packaging & containers; annual sales are KRW 485.4 billion.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-10-16T07:49:57.518Z); FY2025: revenue 485382903930; grossProfit 50645027180; margin = grossProfit / revenue.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-10-16); 008730.KO: Youlchon Chemical Co.,Ltd. produces and sells functional packaging materials. The company offers adhesive and composite materials for surface protection of various electronic materials; silicon liner for industrial tape and optical tape liner materials; and hard coating material for display materials. It also provides flexible packaging materials for food, daily commodities, and functional packaging; biaxial oriented polypropylene films, casted polypropylene films, and polypropylene shrink films; and corrugated boards. Youlchon Chemical Co.,Ltd. was founded in 1973 and is headquartered in Seoul, South Korea.

### Why customers stay

Margins ranged from 4.7% to 10.4% during 2023–25; it earns 2.4% on its capital.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-10-16T07:49:57.518Z); FY2023: grossProfit / revenue = 4.7%.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-10-16T07:49:57.518Z); FY2024: grossProfit / revenue = 5.3%.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-10-16T07:49:57.518Z); FY2025: grossProfit / revenue = 10.4%.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-10-16T07:49:57.518Z); 10-year return on capital observations [[2016,0.054575356525440946],[2017,0.07149934999265187],[2018,0.030330878749217603],[2019,0.041513807281697165],[2020,0.05206054539860286],[2021,0.018414776767110973],[2022,-0.009388738098188925],[2023,-0.025244915418327355],[2024,-0.027079509573965765],[2025,0.012868085449327602]]; median 0.024372827758164288. ROIC follows the displayed moat series; financial companies use return on tangible equity.

### Where the cash goes

Paid dividends in 10 of 10 years; bought back KRW 158.7 million of shares.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-10-16T07:49:57.518Z); FY2016: growth capex 0; upkeep 26369502830; owner earnings 28147898600. Growth capex / owner earnings = 0.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-10-16T07:49:57.518Z); FY2019: growth capex 0; upkeep 26129761680; owner earnings 18942098876. Growth capex / owner earnings = 0.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-10-16T07:49:57.518Z); FY2020: growth capex 0; upkeep 20709476310; owner earnings 26634248432. Growth capex / owner earnings = 0.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-10-16T07:49:57.518Z); FY2021: growth capex 4945877670; upkeep 33376506000; owner earnings 8317929964. Growth capex / owner earnings = 0.5946043897226543.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-10-16T07:49:57.518Z); FY2025: growth capex 10857777240; upkeep 24133117000; owner earnings 3995379298. Growth capex / owner earnings = 2.717583595989289.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-10-16T07:49:57.518Z); Dividend observations: [[2016,12400000000],[2017,12400000000],[2018,12400000000],[2019,12400000000],[2020,12400000000],[2021,12400000000],[2022,12400000000],[2023,6200000000],[2024,6200000000],[2025,6200000000]]. Zero only counted when supported by a complete cash-flow statement.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-10-16T07:49:57.518Z); FY2025: cash repurchases 158739262.5 KRW.

### Are managers owners

Insiders own 56.7% of the company.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-10-16); 008730.KO SharesStats.PercentInsiders = 56.67 percentage points; cache date 2026-10-16.

### What the price says

The price is 0.7 times annual sales.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-10-16T07:49:57.518Z); Closing price 13960 KRW; reporting-to-trading FX 1; FY2025 annual sales per share 19578.40900301326; price multiple 0.7130303589965585. FY2025 cash earnings/share 161.15765385444445. Closing-price date 2026-10-15.

## Monthly share-price history (KRW per share)

- 2016-10: KRW 13,550.00 per share

- 2016-11: KRW 13,950.00 per share

- 2016-12: KRW 14,050.00 per share

- 2017-01: KRW 13,600.00 per share

- 2017-02: KRW 13,800.00 per share

- 2017-03: KRW 13,400.00 per share

- 2017-04: KRW 13,300.00 per share

- 2017-05: KRW 13,750.00 per share

- 2017-06: KRW 13,950.00 per share

- 2017-07: KRW 13,850.00 per share

- 2017-08: KRW 13,800.00 per share

- 2017-09: KRW 14,000.00 per share

- 2017-10: KRW 16,650.00 per share

- 2017-11: KRW 23,550.00 per share

- 2017-12: KRW 21,200.00 per share

- 2018-01: KRW 20,150.00 per share

- 2018-02: KRW 17,900.00 per share

- 2018-03: KRW 16,100.00 per share

- 2018-04: KRW 16,600.00 per share

- 2018-05: KRW 14,450.00 per share

- 2018-06: KRW 13,350.00 per share

- 2018-07: KRW 17,000.00 per share

- 2018-08: KRW 13,150.00 per share

- 2018-09: KRW 13,150.00 per share

- 2018-10: KRW 12,350.00 per share

- 2018-11: KRW 12,600.00 per share

- 2018-12: KRW 12,900.00 per share

- 2019-01: KRW 14,950.00 per share

- 2019-02: KRW 13,450.00 per share

- 2019-03: KRW 12,950.00 per share

- 2019-04: KRW 14,250.00 per share

- 2019-05: KRW 13,100.00 per share

- 2019-06: KRW 13,750.00 per share

- 2019-07: KRW 15,750.00 per share

- 2019-08: KRW 14,850.00 per share

- 2019-09: KRW 14,200.00 per share

- 2019-10: KRW 13,450.00 per share

- 2019-11: KRW 13,650.00 per share

- 2019-12: KRW 14,000.00 per share

- 2020-01: KRW 12,550.00 per share

- 2020-02: KRW 12,250.00 per share

- 2020-03: KRW 12,300.00 per share

- 2020-04: KRW 15,050.00 per share

- 2020-05: KRW 13,900.00 per share

- 2020-06: KRW 14,550.00 per share

- 2020-07: KRW 16,500.00 per share

- 2020-08: KRW 15,450.00 per share

- 2020-09: KRW 15,550.00 per share

- 2020-10: KRW 15,150.00 per share

- 2020-11: KRW 19,750.00 per share

- 2020-12: KRW 20,550.00 per share

- 2021-01: KRW 22,300.00 per share

- 2021-02: KRW 22,950.00 per share

- 2021-03: KRW 20,350.00 per share

- 2021-04: KRW 24,850.00 per share

- 2021-05: KRW 22,400.00 per share

- 2021-06: KRW 22,250.00 per share

- 2021-07: KRW 21,200.00 per share

- 2021-08: KRW 20,550.00 per share

- 2021-09: KRW 24,400.00 per share

- 2021-10: KRW 22,000.00 per share

- 2021-11: KRW 21,400.00 per share

- 2021-12: KRW 27,250.00 per share

- 2022-01: KRW 22,500.00 per share

- 2022-02: KRW 23,900.00 per share

- 2022-03: KRW 23,600.00 per share

- 2022-04: KRW 22,550.00 per share

- 2022-05: KRW 22,600.00 per share

- 2022-06: KRW 19,500.00 per share

- 2022-07: KRW 23,450.00 per share

- 2022-08: KRW 31,450.00 per share

- 2022-09: KRW 26,700.00 per share

- 2022-10: KRW 32,600.00 per share

- 2022-11: KRW 32,750.00 per share

- 2022-12: KRW 36,450.00 per share

- 2023-01: KRW 39,300.00 per share

- 2023-02: KRW 48,400.00 per share

- 2023-03: KRW 40,600.00 per share

- 2023-04: KRW 38,600.00 per share

- 2023-05: KRW 35,600.00 per share

- 2023-06: KRW 30,100.00 per share

- 2023-07: KRW 36,050.00 per share

- 2023-08: KRW 32,100.00 per share

- 2023-09: KRW 27,750.00 per share

- 2023-10: KRW 28,050.00 per share

- 2023-11: KRW 34,800.00 per share

- 2023-12: KRW 31,700.00 per share

- 2024-01: KRW 28,800.00 per share

- 2024-02: KRW 41,450.00 per share

- 2024-03: KRW 35,350.00 per share

- 2024-04: KRW 33,550.00 per share

- 2024-05: KRW 34,850.00 per share

- 2024-06: KRW 36,100.00 per share

- 2024-07: KRW 24,450.00 per share

- 2024-08: KRW 23,300.00 per share

- 2024-09: KRW 22,700.00 per share

- 2024-10: KRW 28,700.00 per share

- 2024-11: KRW 23,650.00 per share

- 2024-12: KRW 20,700.00 per share

- 2025-01: KRW 30,600.00 per share

- 2025-02: KRW 28,050.00 per share

- 2025-03: KRW 25,900.00 per share

- 2025-04: KRW 27,900.00 per share

- 2025-05: KRW 28,850.00 per share

- 2025-06: KRW 30,850.00 per share

- 2025-07: KRW 34,250.00 per share

- 2025-08: KRW 30,100.00 per share

- 2025-09: KRW 29,300.00 per share

- 2025-10: KRW 31,650.00 per share

- 2025-11: KRW 29,700.00 per share

- 2025-12: KRW 25,800.00 per share

- 2026-01: KRW 27,150.00 per share

- 2026-02: KRW 26,400.00 per share

- 2026-03: KRW 23,300.00 per share

- 2026-04: KRW 25,750.00 per share

- 2026-05: KRW 19,640.00 per share

- 2026-06: KRW 15,380.00 per share

- 2026-07: KRW 13,560.00 per share

- 2026-08: KRW 16,870.00 per share

- 2026-09: KRW 14,550.00 per share

- 2026-10: KRW 14,660.00 per share

## Annual estimated value (KRW per share)

- FY2019: low KRW 9,097.07 per share, central KRW 10,730.47 per share, high KRW 12,424.76 per share

- FY2020: low KRW 9,985.02 per share, central KRW 11,852.96 per share, high KRW 13,656.87 per share

- FY2021: low KRW 5,942.73 per share, central KRW 6,448.19 per share, high KRW 7,121.07 per share

- FY2022: low KRW 4,258.58 per share, central KRW 4,687.42 per share, high KRW 5,258.30 per share

- FY2023: low KRW 4,384.31 per share, central KRW 4,772.91 per share, high KRW 5,290.23 per share

Historical values use today's bond yield for every fiscal year

Historical values use today's FX rate into trading currency for every fiscal year

Historical values use current restated fundamentals and current commodity classification; they are not point-in-time estimates

Prior published observations retained from 2026-10-15T06:55:37.088Z where newer inputs omit a numeric field or fiscal period.

## Sources

Estimates depend on assumptions and are not guarantees or investment advice. Underlying data remains subject to its source licenses; public reading does not grant bulk redistribution rights.