Halla Corp.'s credit rating has been upgraded to "BBB+," a stable level. Korea Ratings, an agency appraising companies’ credit rating, has raised Halla Corp.'s credit rating for unguaranteed bonds from BBB0 (positive) to BBB+ (stable), business sources said on May 3.
It also raised the company’s corporate bills and electronic short-term bonds from 'A3' to 'A3+'.
Korea Ratings cited stable operating performance through high-quality orders, cash flow expansion, and asset sales as key reasons for the upgrade of credit rating.
"After successfully carrying out the new city project in Siheung, Halla’s competitiveness has been enhanced by winning reconstruction and redevelopment projects and resuming its own businesses in the Seoul metropolitan area," said Kim Hyun, a senior researcher at Korea Ratings.
"As of the end of last year, the backlog of orders has expanded to 3.8 trillion won ($3.4 billion), and it is expected to continue its good flow of orders this year," he added.
Securities firms are also raising Halla's target stock price one after another. Heungkuk Securities raised its target stock price for Halla from 5,000 won to 7,000 won per share in February, and Shinyoung Securities recently raised its target stock price to 7,000 won.
"We will accelerate growth based on our solid fundamentals. We will also work harder to find future growth engines," a Halla official said.
