Good morning and good evening. Thank you all for joining this conference call, and now we will begin the conference of the fiscal year 2024 fourth quarter earnings results by LG Uplus. This conference will start with a presentation, followed by a divisional Q&A session. Our call is being webcasted on our home page so that you can follow the conference simultaneously. Today's conference will be presented for one hour, and due to schedule, we would appreciate if questions are limited to two per person. Now, we will begin the presentation on LG Uplus's fourth quarter of fiscal year 2024 earnings results.
[Foreign language] LG Uplus IR [Foreign language] LG Uplus [Foreign language] LG HelloVision [Foreign language] Q&A [Foreign language]
Good afternoon. I'm Seong Hyun-mo, Head of IR at LG Uplus. We would like to begin the full year FY 2024 Earnings Presentation of LG Uplus. Please refer to our FY 24 earnings presentation and note that revenue and operating expense breakdown of each business are on the basis that excludes LG HelloVision for the benefit of ease of comparison. As a disclaimer, all of the projections we are providing today may change, subject to macroeconomic backdrop. We will also be providing consecutive interpretation for the benefit of our overseas investors. We will begin with FY 24 full year performance highlight, followed by the Q&A. Without further ado, I would like to turn it over to our CFO, Yeo Myung-hee, who will run through FY 2024 earnings and business results.
[Foreign language] CFO [Foreign language] LG Uplus [Foreign language] LG Uplus [Foreign language]
Good afternoon. I'm Yeo Myung-hee, the CFO. I thank the analysts and investors for joining FY 2024 earnings conference call of LG Uplus. Over the last year, we at LG Uplus thought long and hard about our strategic direction for growth opportunities by making preemptive use of AI technology that is developing at a fast pace.
AX [Foreign language] , AI [Foreign language] B2B [Foreign languafe] AI [Foreign language]
Under the new vision of AX Company, we made significant enhancements in customer experience towards speeding up digital transition, and with the release of AI voice assistant ixi-O, we focused on the voice call feature, which was as a telco, which is a strength that we own as a telco, so as to deliver tangible value to our customers. Also, under B2B infrastructure business, we continued data center business expansion and scaled up services by incorporating AI models into various different B2B businesses.
[Foreign language]
In the meantime, with expected regulatory changes following the decision to abolish the Handset Subsidy Act last December, we understand there are uncertainties and concern over a competitive landscape of the future of the telco market.
[Foreign language]
It's true that some adjustments to the regulatory framework will slightly increase the constraints on acquisition activities, but the current wireless market, with high bundling rates and longer handset replacement cycles, is not like the days before the Handset Subsidy Act was introduced, where operators were prone to engage in reckless competition. As such, we will be focusing on delivering fundamental value to our customers and drive competition that is mutually beneficial.
[Foreign language]
Next, I will move on to the financials of FY 2024.
LG Uplus [Foreign language]
LG Uplus's consolidated FY 2024 full year service revenue was up 1.8% year- over-y ear. On a standalone basis, there was 2.3% year- on- year rise, in line with the guidance of 2% growth, which we communicated last year.
[Foreign language]
Consolidated operating profit was down 13.5% year- on- year to KRW 863.1 billion, an increase in amortization of intangible assets, among other factors. The reason behind sizable year-on-year decline in Q4 operating profit is due to an increase in one-off labor costs following the court ruling on ordinary wages. Excluding this impact, Q4 operating profit was flat year-over-year.
[Foreign language]
Consolidated net profit was down 44% year-on-year to KRW 352.9 billion. The reason why there is a significant decline in net profit compared to operating profit is due to the booking of impairment loss by our subsidiary LG HelloVision in Q4.
[Foreign language] EBITDA [Foreign language]
Consolidated debt to equity ratio improved by 5.8 percentage points year-on-year, reporting 123.8% on decrease in borrowing. CapEx in 2024 was KRW 1 trillion 920.8 billion, down 23.6% year-on-year, leading to stable EBITDA-based improvement in free cash flow.
[Foreign language]
This ends the report on performance highlights and the financials. Next is earnings and outlook from each of our businesses.
[Foreign language]
First is on the mobile business, and I am Kang Jin-wook, Head of Mobile and Digital Innovation Group.
[Foreign language]
FY 24 mobile service revenue posted 2.2% year-on-year growth, reporting KRW 6 trillion 171.1 billion.
[Foreign language]
Total mobile subscription count was up 13.6% year-on-year, reaching 28,550,000. This is mainly driven by 27.3% and 28.8% respective growth from IoT and MVNO subscription. For 5G handsets, subscription count was up 13.3%, with penetration reaching 72.7%.
[Foreign language]
Yearly marketing spend increased 2.1% year-on-year to KRW 2 trillion 209.1 billion.
[Foreign language] LG Uplus [Foreign language] AI [Foreign language]
In its mobile business, LG Uplus endeavored to innovate customer experience by delivering new AI services in year 2024.
[Foreign language]
ixi-O, which was launched last November, acquired more than 170,000 subscribers based on differentiated features and on-device security, and is currently maintaining high usage rates. Android version is soon to be released, and our aim is to reach 1 million subscribers before the end of the year.
[Foreign language] AI [Foreign language] AI [Foreign language]
Also, in the second half of the year, we plan on having a revenue model by monetizing certain services, for instance, call recording. Our plan is to expand features into the domain of coupling voice calls with AI technology to eventually develop it into a personal AI agent, highly personalized with the use of customer data in order to deliver distinctive customer experience.
[Foreign language] 5G [Foreign language]
Although the mobile market, as of today, has seen slower 5G-driven growth, we believe that against the stabilized competitive backdrop, we would be able to capture new opportunities through the alignment of business structure. In 2025, we will place momentum behind subscription through the digital channel by expanding digital customer touchpoints, and through a more granular customer segmentation, we plan on driving up our growth potential.
[Foreign language]
Next is our smart home business. Hello, I am Park Chan-seung, Head of Home Business Group.
[Foreign language]
Smart home revenue in 2024 was up 3.7% year-on-year, reporting KRW 2 trillion 506 billion.
IPTV [Foreign language]
IPTV revenue inched up marginally by 0.2% year-on-year, while robust giga-internet subscriber growth drove internet revenue up 6.6% year-on-year, reporting KRW 1 trillio n 140.9 billion.
IPTV [Foreign language]
IPTV and internet subscriber count both recorded growth compared to last year. IPTV subscriber count expanded by 2.4%, reaching 5,576,000, with internet subscribers growing 3.7% to 5,353,000.
LG Uplus [Foreign language] AI [Foreign language]
With the adoption of AI technology, we were able to improve viewing experience and convenience of the customers, and through improving the cost structure, we focused on profitability-centric operation.
[Foreign language] IPTV [Foreign language] AI [Foreign language]
During the fourth quarter, we updated IPTV's conversational search feature, which allows users to search content information via the use of voice. This is part of our efforts to strengthen users' viewing experience through the media agent, and going forward, we plan to expand AI capabilities to maximize search convenience and users' viewing enjoyment based on individuals' usage data.
[Foreign language]
In the smart home market, on the back of fragmentation of households, which is leading to an increase in the total count of households, internet growth is continuing, while pay TV stagnation is inevitable. To overcome this constraint across subscriber acquisition, activation, customer center, and other business functions, we will carry out rigorous AX-based operational efficiency efforts to focus on fundamental revenue structure improvement.
[Foreign language]
Next is B2B infrastructure, and I am Park Seung-yul, Head of Enterprise Business Innovation Group. I will run through key highlights of B2B infrastructure business.
[Foreign language]
In FY 24, enterprise infrastructure business posted 1.3% year-on-year growth, reporting KRW 1 trillion 705.5 billion.
IDC [Foreign language]
We saw sustained growth trends driven by expanded IDC utilization and revenue growth from leased enterprise line business. However, solution business fell 5.7% year-on-year on restructuring and downsizing of certain services in 2024, and particularly high NI revenue in 2023.
[Foreign language] AX [Foreign language] LG Uplus [Foreign language]
For the B2B infrastructure business, the pivot for growth is moving from circuit-based businesses of enterprise internet and leased circuits to AX services. As such, we made active investment to bolster our technology capabilities in 2024 to transform LG Uplus as a full-stack service provider across AI infrastructure, platform, and services.
[Foreign language] IDC [Foreign language] AI [Foreign language] AI [Foreign language]
Our aim, therefore, is to make proactive investment decisions on IDC to be the first mover in AI infrastructure market based on superior location and power capacity. We also executed an MOU for developing immersion cooling solutions to meet growing AI server demand through scaled-up services.
[Foreign language] AI [Foreign language] U+Connect [Foreign language] AI [Foreign language] AI [Foreign language] AI [Foreign language] IT [Foreign language]
We also enhanced customer value by incorporating AI technology into the incumbent telco services, and in the fourth quarter, we released U+Connect , which is an upgrade of the previous vehicle command and control service. This solution will evolve into AI-powered vehicle control services and will further bolster our AI-based product portfolio. In 2025, we will continue to endeavor to drive tangible results by expanding AI service and platform across financial, manufacturing, IT, and other sectors.
[Foreign language] CFO [Foreign language]
This ends the earnings highlight of each business. I will now invite back our CFO for 2025 outlook.
[Foreign language] LG Uplus [Foreign language] AI [Foreign language]
As previously mentioned, in 2025, LG Uplus will continue to strengthen its core technology capacity based on AX-centric business strategy, and through expansion of AI domain, we will continue to endeavor to secure growth engine for the future. In terms of our established businesses, our aim is to improve business structure through reallocation of resources based on selective focus, and for underperforming businesses lacking competitive edge and self-resilience, we will embark on bold restructuring with a laser focus on profit-centric management.
LG Uplus [Foreign language]
LG Uplus has set 2025 guidance of more than 2% growth in consolidated basis service revenue and will do our best to achieve profit turnaround through earnings structure improvement and cost competitiveness gains.
[Foreign language]
FY 24 DPS, including the interim dividend, is KRW 650 per share, and based on standalone net profit, payout ratio is 64.7%. Although last year's earnings were somewhat muted, as per our mid to longer-term dividend plan, we kept yearly cash dividend at 2023 levels.
[Foreign language]
As you can see from our November disclosure on corporate value enhancement plan, shareholder return target for 2025 is set at 40%-60% of net profit. We present more than 40% of separate basis net profit as cash dividend, and we will come back to you once we decide on the size of the buyback and cancellation timeline after taking into account 2025 free cash flow.
LG Uplus [Foreign language] CEO [Foreign language]
With new CEO taking office end of last year, we underwent organizational changes preparing for a new leap forward. In 2025, we will continue to do our utmost to drive business performance and enhance shareholder interest so as to meet investors' expectations. Thank you.
[Foreign language]
This ends the presentation. We would like to now take your questions.
[Foreign language] . Now, Q&A session will begin. Please press star one. That is star and one if you have any questions. Questions will be taken according to the order you have pressed the numbers star one. For cancellation, please press star two. That is star and two on your phone. [Foreign language] . The first question will be provided by HJ Kim from Daishin Securities. Please go ahead with your question.
[Foreign language]
Thank you for taking my question. I'm Kim HJ from Daishin Securities. Would like to ask you two questions. First is an update on your value-up plan. Can you provide some color as to what your share cancellation timeline looks like? And you've also mentioned that the buyback and cancellation will take place within 20% of the profit. Would like to also gain a little more color in terms of the timeline as well as the size of that buyback and cancellation. Second question is, you've also talked about a possible profit turnaround following the negative growth that we've seen. Would like to understand as to what is the key driver behind this turnaround. Is it your top line or cost savings?
[Foreign language]
Thank you for that question. This is a CFO responding to your question. As you know, at the end of last year, we announced our corporate value-up plan, and we admit that we could have done a better job of communicating what is included in that plan. As I've previously alluded to, we're going to employ quite a bit of flexibility and actually in implementing the plan that we have. First of all, with respect to the shares, treasury shares that we already own, which amount to 6.78 million shares, we are first going to review the cancellation timeline with respect to the treasury shares we already own, and we will be able to make that decision as we move through the first Q1 of this year, and we will be able to come back to you with more details later on.
And also, in terms of the share buyback, additional share buyback size, we will first take a look at the first half earnings of year 2025, and we will make the decision to do a share buyback within 20% of the net profit. We will continue to make sure that we expand on the size of the shareholder return. We are quite adamant on keeping to that policy, and we will be able to share with you more details on the schedule once it is decided.
[Foreign language] AX [Foreign language] AIDC [Foreign language] AICC [Foreign language]
Responding to your second question about 2025 guidance and what are the key levers behind the turnaround that we are expecting. First off, the guidance on a consolidated basis is a service revenue growth of 2%. We are going to focus all our resources and efforts on AX strategy-related domains, which are AIDC and AICC. We will make sure, therefore, to drive a top line growth that is above what we have seen previous year. We will also focus on strengthening our business operational capabilities.
[Foreign language] ROE [Foreign language]
Also, last November, through our corporate value-up plan, we shared with you our ROE target of 8%-10% on a mid to longer-term perspective. In 2024, it is true that our operating profit was somewhat muted because of the elevated level of pressure that we were getting in terms of depreciation cost, labor cost, and some of other fixed cost line items. In 2025, we are going to focus on gaining cost competitiveness and also improve on our profit-making structure so that we may be able to achieve a turnaround in operating profit.
[Foreign language] MX [Foreign language]
And as our head of MX Group has mentioned, we're also going to accelerate operational efficiency by attaining digital transformation. From a telco's perspective, expanding the digital channel is one of the key strategies that will help us reduce significantly the cost that goes into operating on offline stores as well as running a customer service center, together with saving on the acquisition cost. We are, therefore, going to make our digital channel more streamlined and also improve on the customer experience so that we may increase the share of digital channel.
[Foreign language] B2B [Foreign language]
We are also going to speed up phasing out those businesses that are low performing, that are poorly performing. That is, starting previous year, we've been making decisions by conducting a review of the business feasibility when it comes to new businesses. And so we made a decision to stop running certain platforms such as Idolp lus and Spoky, and in B2B area, we've decided to phase out from Smart Factory, Robot, Freight Relay, and Metaverse businesses. We will continue to optimize our business portfolio by phasing out any businesses that do not give us enough profit so that we will be able to enhance our bottom line.
[Foreign language]
So, with such enhancement in cash flow through all of these activities and efforts, we're going to employ a flexible approach in buying back and canceling our treasury shares up to 20% of the net profit so that from a longer-term perspective, we will be able to drive higher shareholder value.
[Foreign language]
Next question, please.
[Foreign language] The following question will be presented by Jun-seop Kim from KB Securities. Please go ahead with your question.
[Foreign language]
Thank you. I would like to ask two questions. One regarding your IDC business and the other on handset subsidy act. First, on IDC, with the opening of your Pyeongchon number two center, I would like to understand as to what the customer profile looks like and the details relating to the operation of the IDC center. If you could provide that, that would be very helpful. Second question is the potential impact from the repeal of or the abolishment of the Handset Subsidy Act. With it being removed or lifted at the end of last year, there are some concerns in the market, and investors also have a bit of a concern with respect to what impact it will have on the company. Can you share with us what LG Uplus's strategies are to respond to this change and how the competitive environment you expect will change?
[Foreign language] IDC [Foreign language] IDC [Foreign language]
Responding to your question about IDC, first off, with regards to the Pyeongchon IDC, basically we opened and we started the operation in October, and we have a list of customers who are moving into our IDC site. But because of the delay in the move-in of these customers, there is a time lag between the time that they move in and the generation or the new revenue stream actually kicking off. So there is that bit of a time difference or time gap between the move-in and the actual revenue being incurred. But we are seeing a sustained increase in the demand for IDC space. Hence, we expect that in 2025, there will be more growth going forward. In terms of the Paju Center, we are projecting completion of construction in 2025.
That basically is the target that we've set for ourselves. And once we have more details, we will be able to come back to you with that.
[Foreign language]
Yes, I am Kang Jin-wook. I'm the head of the Mobile and Digital Innovation Group, and I will respond to your question about the Handset Subsidy Act and your question with respect to what business and financial impact that it will have on our business. It is true that the Handset Subsidy Act was abolished, but we are still waiting for enforcement decrees and notification by the government. So at this point, it is quite hard for us to predict what actual business and financial impact will be for our company. Now, having said that, compared to when the Handset Subsidy Act was first adopted, the replacement cycle of handset had gotten much longer, and also basically there were more increases in the number of bundling subscribers. Hence, it's going to take much more expense to take subscribers away from other telcos.
So it's very important that companies actually operate with a profit centricity. Therefore, our company is not going to engage in any reckless competition with other telecom providers. We will focus more on enhancing the fundamental value of telco services, and we want to make sure that we go towards a direction that is mutually beneficial.
[Foreign language]
[Foreign language]
[Foreign language] The following question will be presented by Heejin Lim from Citi. Please go ahead with your question.
[Foreign language]
[Foreign langauge]
[Foreign language] CapEx [Foreign language] FCF [Foreign language] AI [Foreign language]
Hello, I'm Lim Heejin from Citi. I have a question first on your businesses that are not performing as well. You've mentioned that you will be quite bold in phasing out those underperforming businesses. Would like to understand as to, for instance, the network-related cost that actually goes into it, as well as the relevant expenses and cost information regarding such underperforming businesses, and in 2025, how many of such underperforming businesses are there for you to deal with in terms of the revenue size and what is the impact on the operating profit improvement once that is done? My second question has to do with your CapEx guidance for 2025. I understand that you will continue to need to invest into your AI technologies.
So from FCF perspective, vis-à-vis the AI investment, what is the balancing point between the two, meaning which of the two factors would you place more importance on?
[Foreign language] CapEx [Foreign language]
This is a CFO responding first to your question about our underperforming businesses, and you asked how many such businesses are left and what impact it will have on our operating profit and profitability. In terms of the type of businesses, there were mostly platform businesses, and I believe that at least by the first half of the year, we will be able to deal with them and phase them out and/or make improvements within the first half of the year. This will have a meaningful impact on our operating profit, but at this point, it will be difficult for me to share with you that specific number, but we'll definitely come back to you with that later.
[Foreign language] 5G [Foreign language] 6G [Foreign language]
Second question regarding the CapEx guidance. As you know, in 2024, our CapEx size was around KRW 2 trillion with regards to a significant amount of investment that was needed for 5G investments that was more or less complete up until the time hence the 6G actually arrives. We think that going forward, the investment size is going to be quite similar to what we have seen in year 2024, and also last year, our free cash flow turned positive, and going forward for the time being, we think that we will sufficiently be able to report a free cash flow of around KRW 400 billion-KRW 500 billion. You asked about the right balance between the free cash flow and AI investment, and I can tell you that our free cash flow is not in shortage, so we will sufficiently have those resources.
So I think you could do away with that concern. Thank you.