Celltrion headquarters in Songdo, Incheon.

Celltrion announced on the 26th that it has decided to buy back shares worth approximately 100 billion won through its board of directors. This year alone, share buybacks now total about 650 billion won over seven occasions. It is scheduled to proceed with on-market purchases starting on the 27th.

Not only the company but also executives, major shareholders, and employees are all pushing for stock purchases. Previously, Chairman Seo Jung-jin, the holding company Celltrion Holdings, and the group’s affiliate Celltrion Skin Cure decided to acquire shares worth 50 billion won, 100 billion won, and 50 billion won, respectively, in April, and employees also participated in purchasing about 40 billion won worth of company shares.

Celltrion plans to continue implementing various measures to enhance shareholder value and increase market confidence, believing that the intrinsic value of the corporation is excessively undervalued amid domestic and foreign uncertainties.

Last month, as part of its shareholder return measures, it allocated 0.04 new shares per common share, conducting a free allocation of a total of 8,494,384 shares. In addition to share buybacks, it has also sought to maximize shareholder value through stock cancellations. On May 21, it canceled shares worth approximately 100 billion won, and aims to cancel about 900 billion won worth of shares this year.

Celltrion achieved its highest ever annual sales of 3.5573 trillion won last year and plans to realize sales of 5 trillion won this year. In the first quarter of this year, it also recorded the highest sales to date. Following the establishment of a biopharmaceutical product line of 11 types of biosimilars last year, it is also accelerating the development of new drugs such as next-generation antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) and multiantibodies this year.

Celltrion stated, "Through continuous share buybacks and cancellations, we are conveying our firm commitment to enhancing shareholder value to the market, while accelerating our path to becoming a 'global big pharma' through active revenue expansion and research and development investment. We will continue to make every effort to strengthen our global market dominance and return profits to investors for mutual growth."