L&C BIO's Operating Profit Up 892% in First Three Quarters... "Rituo Effect"

Revenue: 107.5 Billion Won, Up 77%

L&C BIO's cumulative revenue and operating profit for the first three quarters of this year rose sharply. The increase is attributed to the rapid rollout of Rituo, a skin extracellular matrix (ECM) product, to medical institutions in Korea.

L&C BIO disclosed on November 9 that its cumulative consolidated operating profit for the first three quarters rose 892.1% to 24.4 billion won. Revenue for the same period increased 76.8% to 107.5 billion won. On a separate basis, revenue rose 77.8% to 86.7 billion won and operating profit rose 327.1% to 25.7 billion won, while the operating margin reached 29.7%.

The company attributes much of the increase to Rituo, its ECM product. Made using ECM derived from human skin tissue, Rituo is being supplied increasingly rapidly, particularly to medical institutions in Korea. Existing human tissue graft products for skin, cartilage and nerves also continued to provide stable support for results.

L&C BIO is expanding its production capacity in response. After receiving approval for a new production facility this year, it can now produce 80,000 units of Rituo per month. It plans to complete preparations by the end of this year for equipment capable of producing 150,000 units per month, and to begin full-scale operations at the expanded capacity in 2027. The company also plans to begin construction soon on a global production plant in Dongtan. Overseas, it plans to increase supplies through local U.S. distribution partners starting in 2027, while also expanding into Asian markets such as Singapore, Thailand and Hong Kong.

The company also announced measures to enhance shareholder value. At a board meeting on November 9, L&C BIO decided to exercise its call option on convertible bonds (CBs) worth 15 billion won and cancel all the bonds it purchases. The move is intended to reduce the potential number of shares that could be issued upon conversion and address concerns among existing shareholders about dilution of their ownership stakes.

An L&C BIO representative said, "These results are significant because they confirm the high profitability and growth potential of our ECM platform business. We will expand our production infrastructure to meet demand at home and abroad and work toward our mid- to long-term targets of 1 trillion won in revenue and 300 billion won in operating profit by 2030."

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