KG Mobility短期偿债压力升至现金约8倍，媒体警示流动性与可转债摊薄风险

KG Mobility (003620) is on track to post a fourth straight year of profit this year on expanding global sales, but its financial burden has grown alongside investment in future products. The automaker has increased external borrowing while holding limited cash, leaving short-term liabilities including loans at more than eight times its cash and equivalents. Analysts warn that if internal cash generation fails to keep pace with the company's fast-rising reliance on debt, it could face another liquidity squeeze.
Short-term borrowings and bonds due within one year totaled 630.1 billion won as of the end of June, according to the Financial Supervisory Service on the 27th. That is nearly double the 329.3 billion won recorded at the end of last year, and 321% higher than the 143.1 billion won in 2023, the year the company returned to profit. Short-term borrowings alone reached 603.1 billion won, more than 13 times the level of the same period. Cash and cash equivalents, by contrast, stood at just 77.3 billion won. The debt-to-equity ratio climbed to 154% from 126% over the same six months.
KG Mobility has continued to add external debt in the second half. In August, it issued convertible bonds worth 108.1 billion won and 154.5 billion won to raise working capital and repay debt. Of the latter, 142.4 billion won will go toward repaying existing borrowings, cutting the interest rate on that debt to 3.0% from about 6.0%. The 108.1 billion won issue was placed with China's Chery Automobile. In July, the company took out 109.9 billion won in short-term loans to cover payments including technology licensing fees.
Behind the steady increase in outside funding is cash generation that remains weak. KG Mobility broke a chronic run of operating losses in 2023 and has stayed profitable since. But its annual earnings are not large enough to cover heavy fixed costs and fund investment in future products.
The company reported revenue of 4.3036 trillion won and operating profit of 36.1 billion won last year. Operating profit has grown each year, from 12.5 billion won in 2023 to 14.3 billion won in 2024, but the operating margin has yet to rise above 1%. In the first half of this year, the margin was 0.62%, down 0.1 percentage point from a year earlier.
Mezzanine financing, in particular, is adding to concerns about both financial stability and shareholder dilution. The convertible bonds KG Mobility issued this year could convert into a combined 96,130,093 shares, equal to 47% of its 202,374,912 shares outstanding. The conversion price on those bonds ranges from 2,710 won to about 2,760 won, above the current share price of 2,500 won at the close on the 25th. Last year, the company carried out a bonus share issue, citing an improvement in its financial structure, before proceeding with a rights offering.
Analysts say that to build a balance sheet capable of supporting sustainable growth, KG Mobility must quickly restore earnings power in its core business. That makes commercial success for the new models it plans to roll out essential. The company intends to launch seven eco-friendly sport utility vehicles by 2030, spanning electric, hybrid and plug-in hybrid powertrains. The SE10, under development for sale next year, is expected to be the brand's first model with a plug-in hybrid powertrain.
KG Mobility is also moving faster to expand its overseas knock-down assembly business to improve profitability. The company aims to lift annual sales to 200,000 vehicles and revenue to 10 trillion won by increasing knock-down exports to the Middle East and Southeast Asia. It sold 110,535 vehicles last year. Industry officials expect the profitability gains to take hold from next year as knock-down production plans firm up in Saudi Arabia and Indonesia, following Vietnam.