Published on 12 Nov 2023 on Insider Monkey via Yahoo Finance

KT Corporation (NYSE:KT) Q3 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

KT Corporation (NYSE:KT) Q3 2023 Earnings Call Transcript November 8, 2023

Young-Jin Kim: [Call starts abruptly] Our salary negotiations were reflected in Q4 last year, while we were able to smooth our content sourcing cost this year. In this regard, operating income has increased Y-o-Y in both consolidated and stand-alone basis to continue solid growth. Excluding wage negotiations and content servicing costs moving, operating income recorded KRW512.2 billion on a consolidated basis and KRW383.7 billion on a stand-alone basis in Q3 which is a 13.1% and 18.6% Y-o-Y growth, respectively. In addition, on October 17, KT announced the new midterm shareholder return policy which is for the fiscal year 2023 to 2025 period. We are planning to use 50% of the stand-alone adjusted net income as resources for shareholder return.

Dividend per share should be maintained at a minimum of 2022 levels. We also plan to purchase and cancel treasury shares within the financial resources available for shareholder return. Quarterly evidence should be introduced after receiving approval at the ordinary General Shareholders' Meeting in 2024. KT will implement the Digital Service-First strategy by leveraging the company's CT and IT strengths. ICT capabilities are essential to offer differentiated and innovative digital services sought out by customers. As such, we will make utmost effort to integrate and strengthen the outstanding telco and IT strength of KT. We plan to boost corporate value by focusing on fundamentals based on the company's ICT capabilities to pursue quality growth.