APR Co., Ltd. (KRX:278470) reported ₩767.5bn of revenue in the second quarter of 2026 against ₩327.7bn a year earlier. That is 134.2% growth. Operating income was ₩190.6bn, up 134.5%, holding a 24.8% operating margin while more than doubling the top line — a combination almost nothing in Korean consumer does.
Across the first half, revenue reached ₩1,360.9bn, which is 89% of everything the company sold in the whole of FY2025.
Now the cash flow statement. Operating cash flow for the same six months was ₩86.4bn. Net income was ₩258.8bn.
Two lines on the balance sheet account for essentially all of it.
Inventories were ₩165.5bn at the end of December 2025. At the end of June 2026 they were ₩369.9bn — up ₩204.4bn, or 124%, in six months. Trade receivables went from ₩91.1bn to ₩191.6bn, another ₩100.5bn. Together those two absorbed ₩304.9bn.
Some of that is unavoidable. A company whose revenue is running at more than double last year's rate has to carry more stock and is owed more money at any given moment. What matters is whether working capital is growing faster or slower than sales.
Measured in months, it is growing faster. Cost of revenue in the second half of 2025 was ₩213.6bn against year-end inventory of ₩165.5bn — roughly four and a half months of cost sitting in warehouses. First-half 2026 cost of revenue was ₩296.2bn against ₩369.9bn of inventory at 30 June, which is closer to seven and a half months.
Inventory has gone from four and a half months of cost to seven and a half while sales doubled. Either the company is deliberately building ahead of demand it can see, or product is moving more slowly than the revenue line suggests. Those look identical on a balance sheet and completely different in six months' time.
Cash and equivalents stood at ₩94.5bn on 30 June, down from ₩154.4bn at the end of December. The company also spent ₩78.4bn on investing activities and ₩68.0bn on financing across the half, which included ₩56.2bn of dividends actually paid.
Then, on 16 July, the board declared an interim dividend of ₩2,500 a share on 37,438,155 shares. Total: ₩93,595,387,500. Record date 3 August, payment 31 August. Three outside directors attended and the audit committee is composed entirely of outside directors.
₩93.6bn against a 30 June cash balance of ₩94.5bn.
The company will have generated cash through July and August, and the interim balance sheet is a snapshot rather than a forecast, so this is not a liquidity warning. But paying out ₩93.6bn — about 36% of first-half net income — while working capital is absorbing ₩305bn and the cash balance has fallen by 39% in six months is an aggressive combination. Most companies growing at this rate retain everything.
The stated dividend yield in the filing is 0.7%, which implies a share price around ₩357,000 at mid-July and a market value near ₩13.4tn. Against trailing four-quarter net income of about ₩432.2bn, that is roughly 31 times earnings, on a share price that has since risen further. Investors are paying growth multiples. Growth multiples usually assume the growth funds itself.
Every fast-growing consumer product company goes through this. Revenue is recognized on shipment; cash arrives 30 to 90 days later; inventory has to be built before the shipment happens. So the faster you grow, the further ahead of your cash you get. The condition resolves itself the moment growth slows, which is the uncomfortable part: the cash flow statement looks best in the year the business stops compounding.
APR's version is more acute than most because of where it now sells. Overseas revenue rose 178% year on year in the second quarter to more than ₩700bn, or 92% of the total, and North America and Europe together went from 40% of revenue a year ago to 68%. Selling into American retail and marketplace channels means longer physical supply chains, more inventory sitting on water and in third-party warehouses, and payment terms set by counterparties far larger than APR.
The company has effectively swapped a domestic business with short cycles for a transpacific one with long ones, inside eighteen months. The working capital build is the accounting shadow of that shift.
Take the other side seriously, because it is plausible.
If you are growing 134% and your product is selling out, running short is far more expensive than carrying stock. A missed marketplace or club-channel allocation costs shelf position that is hard to get back, and beauty products do not spoil on a quarterly timescale. Building seven months of inventory ahead of a peak season, in a business where the gross margin is 79%, is a cheap insurance policy — every won of inventory that eventually sells returns roughly four.
The cosmetics division grew 185.5% to ₩648.3bn in the quarter, which means the bulk of the inventory is creams and serums with long shelf lives rather than electronic devices that go obsolete. That materially lowers the writedown risk that would normally worry me about a doubling stock position.
And the balance sheet has room. Current assets of ₩877.1bn against current liabilities of ₩382.3bn, with total equity of ₩648.0bn against total liabilities of ₩454.1bn. This is not a leveraged company running out of rope. If working capital needs more funding, it can be funded.
The third-quarter balance sheet, and specifically inventory measured against the quarter's cost of revenue. If inventory holds near ₩370bn while quarterly cost of revenue rises past ₩180bn, turns are improving and the build was pre-positioning. If inventory climbs past ₩450bn, the stock is accumulating faster than it sells and the fourth quarter carries markdown risk.
Second, the operating cash flow line for the nine months. First-half conversion of one third is fine for one period. Two consecutive halves at that level, with a dividend running alongside, would mean the company is distributing profit it has not collected.
Third — and this is the one that decides the multiple rather than the balance sheet — whether North American growth holds now that the region is two-thirds of revenue. A company that was 40% Western a year ago had a diversification story. At 68%, it has a concentration.
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