SEOUL, Aug. 6 (UPI) — HYBE — the management company of South Korean boy group BTS — saw its second-quarter profits jump nearly 80 percent from a year before.
The Seoul-based label announced Thursday that its sales amounted to $244 million during the April-June period, up 79.2 percent from a year before. Its net profit also rose 9.9 percent to $18 million year-on-year.
BTS almost single-handedly supported HYBE’s solid performance, as the group’s hit in May topped the Billboard main singles chart.
The seven-member group’s “Butter” topped the Billboard Hot 100 songs chart for seven weeks in a row. “Permission to Dance” took its place last month.
“Butter” returned to the top position last week and remains there this week. In addition, HYBE said it managed to boost the number of visitors to its online fan club community Weverse in the second quarter. Global girl group Blackpink is also set to join Weverse this month.
“We expect high growth in sales and profits during the second half, thanks to the performances of our artists,” HYBE CEO Park Ji-won said in a conference call.
“Going forward, we will continue to find new business opportunities in music-based entertainment and lifestyle areas,” he said.
Other Korean companies also saw good results during the second quarter, including the country’s largest brokerage house, Mirae Asset Securities.
The firm said in a regulatory filing Thursday that it logged $312 million during the second quarter — its largest quarterly net profit thus far — totaling sales of $2.3 billion.
Mirae Asset Securities also saw its shareholder equity top the 10 trillion won ($8.8 billion) mark for the first time among securities companies in South Korea.
“COVID-19 benefited both HYBE and Mirae Asset Securities. The former’s Weverse platform gained momentum as more people turned to online communities during the pandemic,” business tracker Leader’s Index chief Park Ju-gun told UPI News Korea.
“The latter also showed rapid growth as more people joined the stock market due to the low interest rates caused by COVID-19,” he said.