BL PharmTech: Why Did the Ramen Business With Surging Stock Price Underperform?

Youngchul Park, CEO of BL PharmTech.

BL PharmTech, a KOSDAQ-listed company, saw its ramen business, which was heavily promoted at the beginning of last year, conclude with only about half of the contract amount being finalized.

According to the Financial Supervisory Service's electronic disclosure system, on March 12, 2025, BL PharmTech announced that it had signed a supply contract worth 3 billion won for the "Mr. Min Ramen" product with Anyone FNC. This amount represented 12.3% of BL PharmTech’s total sales. The contract specified Europe as the sales supply region, with a contract period that lasted until July 31, 2025.

News regarding the ramen business between BL PharmTech and Anyone FNC began to surface on February 20, 2025. At the time, the company promoted that Mr. Min Ramen ranked first in a brand awareness survey for ramen in France and had entered major retail chains in France and the United Kingdom.

During this period, BL PharmTech’s stock price soared. On February 20, 2025, the company’s share price started with a 3.5% increase and closed at the upper price limit for the day. Over the subsequent nine trading days, the stock surged approximately 250%, from 827 won to 2,890 won.

However, on July 28, 2025—just three days before the ramen supply contract’s original end date—BL PharmTech disclosed that the contract period had been changed to December 31, 2025. Then, on December 31, 2025, the company announced that the contract amount had ultimately been reduced to 1.7 billion won. This represents 56.9% of the original contract value.

In its business report, BL PharmTech stated, “As of the end of last year, the supply contract amount was finalized at 1.7 billion won due to adjustments in client demand and sales plans.”

The market has focused on the fact that this ramen business was conducted through a contract with Anyone FNC. Anyone FNC has maintained a financial relationship with BL PharmTech for several years.

The first publicly disclosed transaction between BL PharmTech and Anyone FNC dates back to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. At the time, BL PharmTech’s subsidiary, BL Science (formerly TCM Biosciences), entered into a licensing agreement for COVID-19 diagnostic kits in Indonesia with Anyone FNC and PT. LANGIT PANDU ANUGERAH.

The contract value was $2.65 million (approximately 3 billion won), with the contract period running from October 26, 2020, to October 15, 2021. Although some media outlets reported the deal as being worth $4.65 million (about 5.2 billion won), this amount is not confirmed in the disclosures. It is also unclear whether the contract was fully executed. According to the disclosure, BL Science stated that it had received a total of 734 million won by the end of 2020 in line with contract progress. The following year, it reported sales to Anyone FNC amounting to 337 million won. No further information regarding the contract has been disclosed since then.

Additionally, BL PharmTech once provided a guarantee for an affiliate of Anyone FNC. In the first half of 2024, BL PharmTech set aside 200 million won as a performance guarantee deposit for a company called Ilsam Hertz. Ilsam Hertz is a corporation in which Jongbok Bong serves as an inside director. BL PharmTech wrote off the entire amount as a provision for bad debts by the end of 2024, just six months later. Currently, Ilsam Hertz is facing issues such as default and national tax arrears.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.