Meritz Securities office building. (Photo=Meritz Securities)

 

[Alpha Biz= Reporter Kim Jisun] Vice Chairman Kim Yong-bum of Meritz Financial Group announced that the company plans to allocate over 50% of its consolidated profits to share buybacks and dividends this year and next year, as part of its long-term shareholder return policy.

On the 14th, Meritz Financial Group held its second-quarter earnings conference call. The call was conducted as an "open IR session," allowing both institutional investors and general shareholders to ask questions directly to the company's top management.

To gather questions from general shareholders, Meritz Financial collected inquiries through a popup on its website from July 24 to August 4. The company received around 40 questions and selected the top four for the conference call.

In response to a question from general shareholders about the scale of share buybacks in the second half of the year and whether the total shareholder return rate would exceed 50%, Vice Chairman Kim stated that the company would continue share buybacks at a similar pace and scale as in the first half.

Kim added, "Last year, the total shareholder return rate was 51.2%, and this year and next year, we plan to allocate over 50% of our consolidated profits to share buybacks and dividends, following our mid-term shareholder return policy. We have already shared specific capital allocation plans through a public disclosure in early July, and we will continue to transparently announce the progress of these plans each quarter."

When asked about the sustainability of performance improvements, Meritz Fire & Marine Insurance CEO Kim Joong-hyun stated that the company operates with a principle of maximizing value across all business segments while avoiding competition solely for external growth.

 

 

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