In September, eight listed companies newly disclosed their corporate valuation enhancement (value-up program) plans, bringing the cumulative total of companies participating in value-up program disclosures to 764. Notably, as the first disclosure of low-PBR (price-to-book ratio) companies is scheduled for November, some companies have begun disclosing related improvement plans, demonstrating the effectiveness of the policy.
The Korea Exchange announced on the 6th the "September 2026 Monthly Corporate Valuation Enhancement Status," which includes this information. Among the 764th value-up program disclosure participants, 358 were KOSPI-listed companies and 406 were KOSDAQ-listed companies. The market capitalization share of value-up program disclosing companies accounted for 84.0% of the entire market. For KOSPI disclosing companies, 88.4% of the market's market capitalization participated in value-up program disclosures.
Among the value-up program disclosing companies, 638 qualified as high-dividend companies and submitted corporate valuation enhancement plans. Of these, 546 newly submitted disclosures. To receive tax benefits as a high-dividend company, mandatory value-up program disclosure is required.
Ahead of the initial publication of low-PBR companies on November 2, Woojin I&N also became the first to disclose a corporate valuation enhancement plan including a PBR improvement plan. The Korea Exchange has stated that it will postpone the publication of low-PBR company status for one year for companies that disclose a corporate valuation enhancement plan including a PBR improvement plan by the 22nd.
Low-PBR companies are those that fall within the bottom 25% (KOSPI) or 10% (KOSDAQ) of PBR for six consecutive half-years, categorized by market and industry. The Korea Exchange publishes low-PBR company lists to encourage listed companies to voluntarily enhance their corporate valuation.
In terms of shareholder returns, KT&G, Celltrion, and Cheil Worldwide acquired 360 billion won, 100 billion won, and 40 billion won in treasury shares, respectively, and cancelled 360 billion won, 96 billion won, and 283 billion won.
The value-up program index closed at 3228.34. This figure represents a 79.6% increase compared to the end of last year (1797.52) and is 17.3 percentage points higher than the KOSPI index's rise (62.3%) and 1.1 percentage points higher than the KOSPI 200 index's rise (78.5%) over the same period. The total net asset value of 13 value-up program ETFs (exchange-traded funds) reached 3.6 trillion won, a 640.3% increase from their initial establishment.
in STOCK
