Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for attending today. We'll now begin the conference call for KT&G's 2024 Fourth Quarter and Annual Earnings Report. After the presentation from KT&G, there will be a Q&A session with the participants to the call. If you wish to participate with a question, please press the asterisk sign and the number one. We'll now begin with KT&G's presentation.
Ladies and gentlemen, I'm Kate Park, Head of Investor Relations at KT&G. Thank you for attending KT&G's 2024 Fourth Quarter and Annual Earnings Report. Please allow me to introduce the KT&G Management Team in attendance today. With us today, we have Mr. Sang-Hak Lee, Chief Operating Officer, Mr. Chang-gu Heo, Chief of Strategy and Planning, Mr. Min-Seok Kwon, Chief of Global Business, Mr. Wang-Seop Lim, Chief of NGP, Mr. Young-Chan Yoon, Chief of Marketing, Mr. Sang-Joon Woo, Chief of Real Estate Business, Mr. Yong-Bum Kim, Head of Finance Office; and Mr. Chang-gu Heo, Chief of Strategy at KT&G.
Today's presentation will be provided in English, in simultaneous interpretation, and the Q&A session in consecutive interpretation. Materials can be found via the live webcast or downloaded from the company website. Please be advised that the earnings we are about to present today have yet to be audited by the outside auditor. Therefore, they are subject to change in the audit process and any forward-looking information discussed in the call today may differ from the actual results to be reported in the future. Before we start with our Q4 and Annual Earnings Report, Mr. Sang-Hak Lee, our COO and CFO, will update you on our shareholder return execution plan.
Ladies and gentlemen, I'm Sang-Hak Lee, COO and CFO of KT&G.
I would first like to extend my gratitude to all our shareholders and investors for your support and interest in KT&G. Today, the KT&G Board of Directors resolved the year-end dividend for 2024 and share cancellation with the aim to fulfill the KT&G Upgraded Value Program as announced last November. First, the board has considered the company's business performance and cash flow to resolve a year-end dividend of KRW 4,200, a 5% increase from last year. The annual DPS, including the already paid interim dividend, will be KRW 5,400, a historically highest figure, and the payout ratio will be 52%. Year-end dividends will be confirmed via approval at the AGM to be held in coming March, and starting from this year-end dividend, the dividend record date will be changed to the date decided by resolution of the Board of Directors.
As such, the board has decided today to inform investors of the dividend scale before they make their investment decision by setting the record date as February 28. In 2025, we will utilize approximately KRW 600 billion to pay out dividends under a rising DPS policy through interim and year-end dividends in order to enhance predictability on the dividend for our investors and in turn improve shareholder value. Next, I would like to cover share cancellation. The board has also resolved to cancel 3.3 million shares, or 2.5% of total outstanding shares. Cancellation will be immediately executed, and depending on the administrative process, we expect modified listing with the new share count to be complete within the month of February. After the cancellation, treasury shares will account for 11.6% of outstanding shares, which is 2.4 percentage points lower than end of 2024.
Also, we will continue our share buyback and cancellation program of more than KRW 300 billion this year, along with the KT&G Plus Alpha program utilizing funds from divesting non-core assets to strengthen our momentum in active shareholder return policies. Thank you.
So now we will present to you KT&G's 2024 Fourth Quarter and Annual Results. We will begin with the key items from the consolidated earnings and then move on to each business segment, and finally to the 2025 Annual Guidance. Presentation will be followed by a Q&A session with the management team. Let's start with the highlights from Q4 and Annual Earnings in page four. In Q4 of 2024, our global CC business and NGP business drove the group's earnings, which grew 8% in revenue and 5.3% in operating profit.
As the new leadership was launched in 2024, the company set a new record in revenue and made a turnaround in profitability. The global CC business, the tobacco business segment, and the entire group performance all posted record high revenues. Also, both the operating profit and operating margin rebounded. As a result, our capital efficiency was enhanced, and the group's ROE rose by 2.3 percentage points to 12.2%. 2025 was an especially strong year for global CC, which was the key driver for the company's performance as the business set new records and accomplished profit-based qualitative growth. With higher volumes and revenue across the board, the business broke records in both volume and sales revenue, and this volume expansion, combined with an aggressive pricing strategy, created synergy to drive an 84.2% growth in operating profit.
And with such performance, we also enforced active top-level shareholder returns to enhance shareholder value. Through a KRW 1.1 trillion cash return, we returned almost 100% of our net income to shareholders. We canceled 3.5 million existing treasury shares and 8.46 million shares in total to reduce share count by 6.3% to take a step further in the year. Such active shareholder return policies and stronger main business fundamentals drove our TSR for the year to 29.2%. I'll move on to page five on consolidated group performance for Q4. Q4 consolidated revenue was supported by strong growth in global CC and NGP to rise 8% year-on-year to KRW 1.5571 trillion. Q4 consolidated operating profit was driven by stronger volumes in global CC and price increases that led to improved profitability, showing a 5.3% increase YoY to KRW 208.5 billion.
As for net income, increase in operating profit and currency fluctuations within the quarter led to higher currency-related profits that drove income up by 167.2% YoY to KRW 301.7 billion, and our earnings per share up 152.7% to KRW 2,696. EBITDA was up 5% YoY to KRW 272.8 billion, with EBITDA margin standing at 17.5%. Next, to page six on annual consolidated earnings. On a full-year basis, consolidated revenue overcame weak real estate and HFF performance through strong growth in tobacco led by global CC, rising 0.8% versus the previous year to KRW 5.9095 trillion. Operating profit for the year was boosted by global CC and NGP growth, as well as higher per unit profits to go up by 1.5% to KRW 1.1848 trillion. Full-year net income was also supported by higher operating profit and currency-related profits to increase 23.8% to KRW 1.1416 trillion.
Annual EPS went up 29.6% to KRW 10,167 . EBITDA was up 1.9% at KRW 1.4350 trillion . EBITDA margin 24.3%. Move to page seven on reasons behind movement in profits. Starting with the fourth quarter. In the tobacco business, improved product mix and pricing supported profits by KRW 24.5 billion . Impact from appreciation of the dollar against the won added KRW 18.7 billion . Stronger volumes, especially in global CC, was KRW 49.5 billion , amounting to a total KRW 92.7 billion increase. But cost variance, including one-off expenses, dragged down profits by KRW 97.6 billion , leading to lower profits for the business. HFF business profits came down by KRW 6.5 billion due to a subdued domestic market. The real estate business, on the other hand, saw a KRW 22.9 billion increase in profits year-over-year. All in all, consolidated operating profits for the quarter was up by 5.3%.
As for the full-year tobacco business, cost variances, including COGS, was - KRW 211.5 billion, but better product mix and pricing was + KRW 151.3 billion. Appreciation of the dollar had a KRW 61.2 billion impact. Higher volumes from global CC and NGP added KRW 103.4 billion, totaling to a KRW 104.4 billion added profits in the business. However, HFF and real estate saw a KRW 20.7 billion and KRW 73.7 billion decline in profits, respectively. To add up, the strong performance from the tobacco business in the year led to a 1.5% increase in consolidated operating profit. Moving on to page eight on performances from each business segment. First, on the tobacco business. Tobacco business revenue was supported by global CC that saw record high annual revenue to increase 13.2% YoY for the quarter to KRW 1.012 trillion and up 8.1% for the full year to KRW 3.9063 trillion.
Core operating profits for the business was impacted by ordinary pay-related allowances, instant payment of back pay on increased wages, and reduced revenue from domestic CC, a big profit contributor suffering a YoY decline. However, annual operating profit was up thanks to better profitability from global cigarettes that actually saw an 84.2% YoY increase in profits from operation. The share of the global operation in tobacco continued to expand as global CC sales were higher for both the quarter as well as the year. Let's break down each business segment within tobacco in page nine. First, on domestic cigarettes. Total cigarette market volume in Korea was reduced by 3.9% in 2024, a steeper decline versus the previous year. However, the company continued to launch new products catering to consumer needs, continuing to gain market share by 0.7 percentage points YoY to 66.7%.
In domestic CC revenue, despite lower volumes due to the structural market decline, continued growth in market share and increased revenue contribution from high ASP products mitigated the impact. Next to page 10 for global cigarettes. In terms of global cigarette volumes, Q4 volumes saw huge growth in export by 21.3% to 14.31 billion sticks. Annual volumes saw growth in both subsidiaries as well as export to increase 10.3%, reaching highest ever numbers for a single year. Q4 revenue was boosted by volume growth in high ASP geographies, along with continued pricing effects to rise 35.2% YoY to KRW 379.5 billion. Annual revenue was supported by record high volumes and active pricing to grow 28% to KRW 1.4501 trillion, which is also an all-time high. Next is NGP business on page 11. Q4 revenue for NGP grew domestically as well as internationally, up 11.1% YoY to KRW 216.7 billion.
Annual revenue saw continued impact from strategic device inventory adjustment in preparation for new platform launch overseas, but domestic performance and higher stick sales led to overall revenue growth for the business. NGP sticks, the core growth driver for the business, grew 4% YoY to 14.49 billion sticks. Taking a closer look at NGP performance on page 12. In the domestic market, new product launches and aggressive marketing from all players led to higher consumer acquisition, driving up the penetration rate by 1.7 percentage points to 21.9%. As for KT&G, we diversified our new stick launches for each platform to attract a broader pool of consumers, continuing the market share growth momentum and solidifying our market leadership.
The overseas business, the impact from the strategic adjustment of existing device sales ahead of a new platform launch, was more than offset by efforts including lil Hybrid launch in Russia, sustaining the growth trend for annual sticks. Higher revenue contribution from sticks, the driver of profits of the business, drove up operating profit margin by five percentage points YoY, continuing to improve profitability of the business. Next, on page 13, health functional food. Q4 revenue had downsides from a declining domestic HFF market due to a slow economy and impact from reshuffling inefficient channels to come down by 4% YoY to KRW 323.3 billion. In annual revenue, despite seeing double-digit growth in overseas revenue for two consecutive years, reduced domestic revenue due to a weaker consumer sentiment led to a total 6.6% decline to KRW 1.3016 trillion.
Operating profits for the fourth quarter suffered reduced domestic revenue and higher marketing costs from new brand launches to fall 53.7% YoY to KRW 5.6 billion. Annual operating profit was down 17.7% YoY to KRW 96.4 billion. Share of global business in the quarter was down 1.2 percentage points to 41.5% due to streamlining of inventory in overseas subsidiaries, but the figure for the year was up 4.7 percentage points to 28.9% thanks to growth in overseas HFF revenue as a result of the company's global expansion strategy. Page 14 with specifics on domestic and overseas performance. In domestic revenue by channel, in line with the strategic focus on high-growth platforms, e-commerce channel growth drove revenue from strategic channels. However, lower demand due to subdued consumption and reshuffling of inefficient channels led to a drop in sales from large distribution channels and standalone stores.
Q4 domestic revenue in total was down 2% to KRW 188.7 billion, and annual domestic revenue down 12.4% to KRW 935.1 billion. Overseas in Q4, subsidiaries including Taiwan went through inventory adjustment, driving down revenue by 6.8% to KRW 133.6 billion, and in annual revenue, continued strong growth in China and expansion in the U.S. drove an 11.7% increase to KRW 376.5 billion. Lastly, in page 15, the real estate business. Q4 real estate revenue had favorable comparison year-on-year against reduced subsidiary revenue, rising 7.4% to KRW 137.1 billion. In annual revenue, the completion of the Suwon development project and subsidiary development projects like DMC Deok-eun, along with realignment of business directions for real estate with the new leadership, drove down the top line by 34% to KRW 361.3 billion.
In the quarter, infrastructure construction expenses on the Suwon development project incurred as per the previous year led to an operating loss of KRW 22.7 billion. Annually, lower revenue and infrastructure cost led to KRW 4.5 billion of operating loss. I will now hand over to our COO, Mr. Sang-Hak Lee, to brief you with our annual guidance for 2025.
This is COO Sang-Hak Lee again. Allow me to brief you on our guidance for business performance and shareholder return in 2025. With regard to the business performance in 2025, we still expect further internal and external uncertainties, delayed economic recovery, and weaker consumer purchasing power combining to a continued challenging business environment. However, KT&G will penetrate further into the global market and focus on the main tobacco business to reinforce our core competitiveness.
In 2025, for the tobacco business, despite a reduced domestic CC market, a business of high profit contribution, we will continue our momentum for stronger main business based on the rapid growth of the global CC business. In time, we will focus on building a framework for sustainable improvement of profitability. In health functional food, we will attempt to strengthen business fundamentals in the longer horizon despite delayed recovery of the domestic and global economy as we attempt to improve profitability. With it, our target is 5%-7% revenue growth, 6%-8% operating profit growth year-on-year on a consolidated basis. Next is on shareholder returns. As announced earlier today, as a first step to our shareholder returns for 2025, we will cancel our existing treasury shares in the scale of KRW 360 billion in market for 2.5% of outstanding shares.
When complete, we will have canceled a total of 5.1% of our treasury shares since 2024. For annual dividends in 2025, we will utilize about KRW 600 billion in total under the rising DPS policy to pay out interim and year-end dividends, and we will also buy back treasury shares of more than KRW 300 billion to be canceled immediately after the acquisition. On top of this, we will continue our plus alpha program using funds from divesting low-yield non-core assets just as we did last year. All in all, for the year, KT&G will aim to execute more than KRW 1.1 trillion in cash return, support more than 100% in total shareholder return ratio, and cancel more than 4.5% of treasury shares to enforce top-level shareholder returns as per the plan and enhance shareholder value. 2025 is expected to be a year of high uncertainty and risk.
Even so, KT&G will once again leverage this challenge as an opportunity for growth. Going forward, KT&G will continuously improve corporate value by focusing on the main business areas and expanding our global presence, at the same time executing shareholder returns at top level as per the plan for better shareholder values. I ask for continued support from our shareholders and members of the capital market going into this year.