Earns steadily with little debt. But operating margin fell from 32.9% a decade ago to 20.4%, and a debt-free balance sheet geared up in three years.
Compiled from public financial data. Not a recommendation to buy or sell any security. · Source: DART annual reports · TradingView (TTM), as of 2026-09-18
No.1 share of Korea's domestic cigarette market. Tobacco advertising and promotion are restricted by law and manufacturing and distribution require licences, so new entrants are rare. The company owns the Korea Ginseng Corp red ginseng brand. Domestic revenue is effectively flat, however, and all recent growth comes from abroad. In Q1 2026 overseas cigarette volume rose 15% and average selling price 8%, lifting that segment's revenue 25% and operating profit 56.1%. A plant in Kazakhstan is complete and running; an Indonesian plant is due to start in the first half of 2026.
| No.1 domestic cigarette share | Tobacco advertising and promotion are restricted by law, making it hard for new brands to build awareness, and manufacturing and distribution require licences. Competitive positions rarely shift. |
| Overseas production base | The Kazakhstan plant is complete and operating; an Indonesian plant is due in the first half of 2026. Volume and price are rising together across Asia-Pacific and Eurasia. |
| Korea Ginseng Corp brand | Health functional food accounted for 19.5% of Q1 2026 revenue, built on a long-established red ginseng brand. |
| Cash generation and low debt | Debt-to-equity 0.20x and current ratio 2.04x. Total debt nonetheless rose from KRW 193.2 billion in 2022 to KRW 1.84 trillion in 2025. |
Revenue went from KRW 4.47 trillion in 2016 to KRW 6.58 trillion in 2025, while operating profit went from KRW 1.47 trillion to KRW 1.34 trillion. Revenue rose 47% but operating profit fell 8.5%, so operating margin dropped from 32.9% to 20.4% — down 12.5 points. Operating profit fell three years running from 2021 to 2023, then turned with +1.8% in 2024 and +13.0% in 2025. On a trailing-twelve-month basis revenue is KRW 6.95 trillion and operating profit KRW 1.49 trillion, back above the 2016 level. The company reported overseas cigarette operating profit up 56.1% year on year in Q1 2026.
| Year | Revenue (B$) | Op. Income (B$) | EPS ($) | P/E (x) | ROE (%) | Op. Margin (%) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 44689 | 14688 | 9755 | 10.3 | 18.4 | 32.9 |
| 2017 | 46672 | 14411 | 9217 | 11.6 | 16.4 | 30.9 |
| 2018 | 44715 | 12535 | 7141 | 13.9 | 11.4 | 28 |
| 2019 | 49632 | 13796 | 8196 | 11.6 | 12.3 | 27.8 |
| 2020 | 53016 | 14811 | 9320 | 8.6 | 13.2 | 27.9 |
| 2021 | 52284 | 13384 | 7898 | 9.8 | 10.7 | 25.6 |
| 2022 | 58514 | 12676 | 8489 | 10.9 | 11 | 21.7 |
| 2023 | 58626 | 11673 | 7843 | 11.6 | 9.8 | 19.9 |
| 2024 | 59088 | 11888 | 11314 | 9.8 | 12.7 | 20.1 |
| 2025 | 65797 | 13437 | 10220 | 15.1 | 11.8 | 20.4 |
— = no data for that year/metric (P/E omitted before EPS turned positive)
Operating Income YoY growth:
9Y CAGR: Revenue +4.4% · Operating Income -1.0% · Net Income -1.2% · EPS +0.5%
Revenue, operating profit, net income and equity come from DART annual reports (consolidated, owners of the parent). Year-end closing prices are from Yahoo Finance and TTM figures from TradingView. P/E is the year-end close divided by that year's EPS.
KT&G trades on the lowest trailing P/E of these four global tobacco companies. Its market capitalisation is roughly one twentieth of Philip Morris. Philip Morris is further along in the shift to heated tobacco, which supports a higher multiple, while BAT and Altria sit in a similar range to KT&G. Business mixes differ, so a straight comparison has limits: 19.5% of KT&G revenue is health functional food and 6.9% is real estate.
| Metric | ★ KT&G | Philip Morris | BAT | Altria |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| P/E (TTM) | 12.5x | 27.4x | 14.4x | 14.7x |
| Market cap | KRW 18.0T | $296.9B | $120.3B | $116.4B |
| Main markets | Korea & Asia | Global | Global | United States |
TradingView, 2026-09-18. The three overseas peers are quoted in US dollars.
Korea · KOSPI category
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