[News Space=Reporter seungwon lee] Infurness (CEO Kwak Seong-moon), which imports and sells the expensive premium bed 'VISPRING (UK)' used by famous celebrities and tycoons, saw its sales decrease last year, operating profit increase, but net profit for the period plummeted by about 70%.

Notable changes include the expansion of short-term trading securities valuation losses in 2024, a sharp increase in short-term borrowings, and a reduction in dividends. In particular, exposure of investment assets to market volatility, dependence on CEO transactions, and liquidity management burden are emerging as major management risk factors.

Infernis's share structure is 100% owned by CEO Kwak Seong-moon and special affiliates. It is effectively a family business. The inside directors and auditors are also family. As for dividends, 2.5 billion won in 2022, 2.2 billion won in 2023, and 500 million won in 2024, all of which went to CEO Kwak Seong-moon and special affiliates.

The area of ​​the Cheongdam Building, which is the headquarters (Infini Cheongdam Building, 6-15 Cheongdam-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul (777 Samseong-ro, Gangnam-gu, Seoul)) is 669.2㎡ (203 pyeong), and considering that it is located on the main street of Cheongdam-dong, if calculated at 500 million won per pyeong, it has a market value of over 100 billion won.

According to the audit report submitted to the Financial Supervisory Service's electronic disclosure system on the 25th, Inferness recorded sales of 14.5 billion won in 2024. This is a 2.9% decrease from 14.9 billion won the previous year.

Operating profit was 3.9 billion won, an 18% increase from the previous year (3.3 billion won).

However, net income for the period was 1.55 billion won, a sharp 68.2% decrease from the previous year (4.87 billion won). This was due to a sharp increase in non-operating expenses, especially a large-scale loss on valuation of short-term trading securities (1.35857 billion won). 

In other words, the valuation of listed stocks held by Infernis, such as LG Chem, Posco Holdings, EcoPro, and EcoPro BM, fell significantly, resulting in large losses, which in turn led to a sharp decline in net profit.

In addition, while non-operating income (interest income, dividend income, etc.) decreased significantly compared to the previous year, profit before corporate tax itself decreased significantly as non-operating expenses increased rapidly.

The operating profit ratio was 26.8%, up 4.5 percentage points from the previous year (22.3%).

Looking at the sales trend by year, it steadily increased from 11.5 billion won in 2019, 9.4 billion won in 2020, 13.6 billion won in 2021, 12.2 billion won in 2022, 14.9 billion won in 2023, and 14.5 billion won in 2024, before decreasing last year.

Operating profit recorded 4.5 billion won in 2021, the highest in the past five years. It was estimated to be 2.7 billion won in 2019, 1.9 billion won in 2020, 2 billion won in 2022, 3.3 billion won in 2023, and 3.9 billion won in 2024.

Cash dividends in 2024 will be 500 million won, down 77.3% from the previous year (2.2 billion won). The dividend payout ratio will be 32.2%, down from the previous year (45.1%).

Retained earnings amounted to KRW 13.6 billion, an 8.4% increase over the previous year (KRW 12.6 billion).

Selling and administrative expenses were 5.4 billion won, down 10.7% from the previous year (6.1 billion won). Of this, advertising and publicity expenses were 4.3 billion won (down 28.3% from 6 billion won the previous year), salaries were 2.16 billion won (up 5.8% from 2.04 billion won the previous year), and commissions were 3.1 billion won (down 36.7% from 4.9 billion won the previous year).

In other words, while advertising and promotional expenses and payment commissions, etc., were drastically reduced, personnel expenses such as salaries increased, which appears to have solidified the cost structure. However, there is also an evaluation that the company is passive in terms of utilizing external resources and external branding activities with the market.

In addition, the proportion of transactions with special related parties of the CEO is still high, and the funding structure, including the lease deposit of KRW 1.8 billion, the rent paid of KRW 1.0782 billion, and the borrowings, is largely dependent on the CEO personally.

Infernis is depositing a lease deposit on the real estate owned by CEO Kwak Seong-moon, paying annual rent, and using the space as its headquarters. In other words, the company is operating under a structure in which it pays CEO Kwak additional rent in addition to salary and dividends.

Cash and cash equivalents amounted to KRW 1,339.76 million, and short-term borrowings amounted to KRW 3.7 billion, a sharp increase of 68% compared to the previous year (KRW 2.2 billion).

The debt ratio was 37.0% (total liabilities of KRW 5.14 billion, total capital of KRW 13.9 billion), down from 42.8% the previous year. The current ratio was 289% (current assets of KRW 13.1 billion, current liabilities of KRW 4.5 billion), a slight improvement from 275% the previous year.

In other words, short-term borrowings have surged by 68% year-on-year, expanding liquidity risk, and the possibility of short-term funding pressures remains as the size of short-term borrowings is large compared to cash assets.

There are no records of royalty payments, and no separate disclosures of legal proceedings or contingent liabilities.

In particular, the intangible assets of 4,000 won (patent rights of 1,000 won, trademark rights of 3,000 won) are noteworthy. This shows that although the company has patents and trademarks, in reality, their impact on financial status is extremely minimal, and no depreciation, impairment losses, additional acquisitions, or disposals have occurred.

In reality, these small intangible assets often have little practical value in business, or are acquired long ago and have mostly been depreciated, leaving only the minimum amount on the books. Therefore, Inferness's intangible asset items have little financial or business significance and are simply recorded for formality.

Meanwhile, the top 3 luxury beds, called the 'Hermes' of the bed world, are VISPRING (UK), DUXIANA (Sweden), and Hastens (Sweden). The prices of the top 3 bed brands usually range from 100 million won to a maximum of 300 million won.

 As for premium beds, there are Simmons, the number one bed in the domestic market, Tempur, Sealy, and Carpe Diem beds. As for general brands, there are Hyundai Livart, Shinsegae Casa, Ace Bed, and Hanssem.