AhnLab 深度报道：核心安全业务稳健增长，但区块链/云等子公司亏损拖累合并盈利，重组投资组合

AhnLab (053800.KQ) is seeing its consolidated profitability squeezed as losses pile up at companies it acquired or invested in to expand into new businesses. Its core information security operations continue to post solid growth, but losses at some subsidiaries in blockchain and cloud services are eroding the gains from the main business. As AhnLab restructures its investment portfolio, it faces the task of finding profitable new businesses to meet its goal of 1 trillion won in revenue by 2035.
The number of companies in which AhnLab holds equity stakes fell to eight at the end of June from 13 at the end of 2024, according to security industry sources on the 15th. Over the past several years, AhnLab has broadened its business into artificial intelligence, cloud computing, operational technology and blockchain through acquisitions of and stakes in security startups.
Some of those investments, however, failed to deliver the business synergies initially expected and grew slowly. In January 2020, AhnLab acquired a 60% stake in Jason, an AI-based anomaly detection firm, bringing it in as a subsidiary. After Jason continued to post losses and fell into negative equity at the end of last year, AhnLab wrote down the roughly 3.1 billion won book value of its investment in the company. On a consolidated basis, it also recognized an impairment loss of about 1.5 billion won on goodwill booked at the time of the acquisition. AhnLab sold its entire stake in Jason in the first half of this year, ending the investment six years after the acquisition.
Spiceware and Astron Security, in which AhnLab had participated as a strategic investor, went bankrupt, and the book value of its investment in Waikiki Soft has fallen to zero won. In the first half of this year, AhnLab exercised a redemption right on redeemable convertible preferred shares in Monitorapp, and last year it recovered its investment by selling its stake in Fescaro.
As a result of the portfolio contraction, the book value of AhnLab's investments in affiliated companies declined to 2 billion won at the end of June from 5.5 billion won at the end of last year and about 9 billion won at the end of 2024.
Among the remaining subsidiaries, a number continue to run losses. AhnLab Blockchain Company posted a cumulative net loss of about 19.6 billion won from its founding through last year, followed by a net loss of 3.74 billion won in the first half of this year. In June, it carried out a capital reduction without consideration, cutting paid-in capital to 900 million won from 9 billion won to resolve its negative equity. AhnLab Cloudmate and Naonworks also recorded net losses of 1.15 billion won and 1.09 billion won, respectively, in the first half. AhnLab's own earnings are improving, but subsidiary losses are dragging down consolidated profitability.
The core security business, by contrast, is growing clearly. First-half product revenue rose to 93.8 billion won this year from 82.4 billion won last year and 76 billion won in 2024. That accounts for 72.0% of consolidated revenue in the first half. Exports are also rising quickly. First-half export revenue grew about fourfold to 10.4 billion won this year from 2.6 billion won in 2022, and its share of revenue climbed to 8.0% from 2.5% over the same period. AhnLab said revenue from products tied to endpoint detection and response (EDR), XTG and other offerings related to the National Network Security Framework (N²SF) and zero trust more than doubled in the first half from a year earlier.
That gap between the main business and consolidated results is also visible in the financial statements. On a separate basis, AhnLab's first-half operating profit rose to 12.5 billion won this year from about 9.5 billion won last year and about 9.2 billion won in 2024. Over the same period, consolidated operating profit came to about 3.6 billion won, 4.5 billion won and 7.3 billion won. Subsidiary results and consolidation adjustments have produced a gap of around 5 billion won each year.
AhnLab has set a goal of reaching 1 trillion won in revenue by 2035 and lifting overseas sales to more than 30% of the total. The key question is whether it can maintain growth in its core business while turning AI-centered new businesses into actual sources of profit. AhnLab spent 39.4 billion won, or 30.2% of first-half revenue, on research and development, and plans to invest 100 billion won over the next three years to strengthen AI infrastructure and R&D capabilities.
An AhnLab official said the company will actively consider mergers and acquisitions if there are technologies or products needed to strengthen the competitiveness of its AI-native security platform and solve customers' security problems, adding that it will give priority to technological and business synergies, customer value and growth potential.
AhnLab held about 94.2 billion won in cash and cash equivalents on a consolidated basis at the end of June, leaving room for further investment. The industry views the ability to select and monetize new businesses that create synergies with the core operations — drawing lessons from the results and limits of past investments — as the key variable in reaching the 1 trillion won revenue target.
A company official said the 1 trillion won revenue target is not something to be achieved through organic growth of current businesses alone, but is premised on new growth drivers including an expansion of subscription-based operations, global growth, new businesses and M&A, based on a transition into an AI-native security platform company. The official added that the company will build a growth structure by expanding new business models and markets centered on AI.