Hanwha Life, Hyundai Steel, Lotte Shopping among 151 firms flagged for persistently low valuations

The Korea Exchange has publicly flagged 151 companies, including Hanwha Life Insurance, Hyundai Steel, and Lotte Shopping, for persistently low valuations. This marks an unprecedented move by the bourse operator to encourage listed firms to improve their corporate value. The initiative targets companies that have consistently traded at low price-to-book ratios (PBRs) while making minimal efforts to return capital to shareholders.

The disclosure includes 96 KOSPI-listed companies and 55 on the Kosdaq that ranked in the bottom 25 percent and 10 percent, respectively, of their markets in terms of PBR over the past three years. PBR measures a company's market capitalization relative to its net assets, indicating how much investors are willing to pay for each unit of book value.

A ratio below 1 suggests the company is valued at less than its net assets, potentially reflecting concerns about its growth prospects or efficiency.

Brief written by urgent.news from The Korea Times's own syndicated text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.