Celltrion to retire $400 mn treasury stock in January

South Korea’s biosimilar maker Celltrion Inc. on Wednesday announced a plan to retire about a quarter of its treasury stock worth 563 billion won ($400 million) in January as it is on course to achieve its largest-ever revenue in 2024.

Under the plan, it will cancel 3.0 million shares, equivalent to 1.4% of its outstanding shares and 25% of its treasury stock, on Jan. 6. These are worth 563 billion won, based on Celltrion's closing price on Tuesday.

Since the start of this year, it has bought back about 430 billion won in shares. This is on top of repurchases of 1.25 trillion won in 2023 to prop up its share price.

The buybacks gained momentum after Celltrion achieved its largest-ever quarterly revenue in the third quarter. It is also on course for a record 3.5 trillion won in revenue for the whole year of 2024, said a company official.

Last month, Celltrion founder and Chairman Seo Jung-jin said the biosimilar giant is poised to meet its sales target of 5 trillion won for 2025, when it plans to break ground on its first contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) plant in Korea.

Its share price has fallen 21% year to date, underperforming the broader Kospi index’s 7.7% decline over the same period.

Write to Dae-Kyu Ahn at powerzanic@hankyung.com
 


Yeonhee Kim edited this article.