[Edaily Reporter Kwon Oh Seok ] On the 25th, SKSecurities assessed Messe eSang(408920), stating, “First-quarter revenue this year reached 16.6 billion won, a 25.8% increase year-over-year, while operating profit for the same period grew 51.5% to 5.0 billion won,” adding, “The company is on track to once again surpass its annual record performance.” However, the firm did not provide an investment recommendation or a target price.

Messe eSang is a domestic company specializing in exhibition organization, planning and hosting various exhibitions held at domestic and international venues. Since last year, it has expanded its business scope beyond simple exhibition planning and hosting to include the direct operation of exhibition centers such as Suwon Messe.
Na Seung-doo, an analyst at SKSecurities, explained, “The company has successfully achieved vertical integration within the domestic exhibition industry’s value chain. This is currently acting as one of the key drivers of its strong earnings momentum,” adding, “It has a business structure where profit leverage effects become even more pronounced if the number of exhibitions attracting high consumer interest increases.”
He further elaborated, “In particular, for venues like Messe eSang and larger, the company possesses a competitive edge in planning exhibitions with a high ‘hit rate’ based on its data management capabilities—which comprehensively manage and analyze participating companies, buyers, and visitors—so I believe it will have little difficulty maintaining high profitability.”
However, he noted, “It is true that there are industry concerns about a reduction in exhibition space following the announcement of remodeling plans for COEX, one of the country’s largest exhibition centers,” but emphasized, “This is actually likely to serve as an opportunity. Demand for exhibition events is likely to be distributed to nearby venues other than COEX, and if exhibitions at venues directly operated by Messe eSang increase, this is highly likely to lead to even more positive effects.”
Researcher Na analyzed, “The number of overseas exhibitions organized independently, as was done last year, is also expected to increase further. This is because interest in ‘K-exhibitions’ is running high, particularly as the influence of K-content and K-brands expands globally.” He added, “While the company is expected to achieve an annual net profit of approximately 20 billion won this year, its current enterprise value is only at a P/E ratio of 6.”
Furthermore, he noted, “Considering that specialized global exhibition companies are commanding high multiples as they enter a phase of economic recovery following the COVID-19 pandemic, domestic companies appear to be significantly undervalued, even when accounting for the difference in market size between domestic and overseas markets.” He added, “Given that the current dividend yield, based on last year’s DPS (dividend per share), exceeds 4%, there is unlikely to be significant downward pressure on the stock price.”