Shares of TheBornKorea (475560.KQ), which had struggled since its stock market debut, surged more than 10% on hopes that the company will expand its business-to-business (B2B) sauce operations overseas.
The company's shares closed at 15,890 won on the 13th, up 12.78% from the previous session, according to the Korea Exchange on the 15th. During the session, the stock climbed as high as 17,760 won, at one point rising more than 20%. The sharp rebound came after the shares had fallen almost continuously for about two years since the company's listing in November 2024.
Driving the shift in sentiment was TheBornKorea's overseas expansion. Baek Jong-won, chief executive of TheBornKorea, said the company had begun expanding its "TBK (The Born Korea) sauce" business abroad, following a recent visit to a restaurant in Los Angeles.
Baek introduced menu items using 11 sauces, including kimchi powder sauce and seasoned chicken sauce, and discussed plans for supplying the products and applying the recipes. Since last year, TheBornKorea has been in talks with local food and distribution companies in the United States, Canada, Thailand, Taiwan and China to supply TBK sauces. The company is also reviewing the possibility of signing memorandums of understanding (MOUs) with companies in the United States and Thailand within the year.
As the overseas expansion news lifted the share price, investor expectations have grown. TheBornKorea's stock had fallen to less than half its offering price. On its first trading day on November 6, 2024, the stock closed at 51,400 won, 51.18% above its offering price of 34,000 won. The shares had climbed as high as 64,500 won during that first session. Baek's high public profile and expectations for the expansion of the restaurant franchise business were seen as reflected in the stock at the time.
The share price, however, has been on a steady decline since the listing. Investor sentiment soured as a series of setbacks piled up, including suspected violations of the Farmland Act, a controversy over allegedly inflated prices for its "Paik Ham" product, and suspected violations of the food labeling and advertising law. Sentiment also cooled amid a broad downturn in the dining-out industry and the company's weak earnings.
In the second quarter of this year, TheBornKorea posted revenue of 83.2 billion won, up 12% from a year earlier, and an operating loss of 5.6 billion won. While the loss narrowed sharply, down 75% from a year earlier, it marked the fifth consecutive quarter of operating losses, from the second quarter of last year through the second quarter of this year.
