Amidst the spring celebration fervor in the Korean stock market, a major biotech firm ranking among the top by market capitalization on the KOSDAQ securities market is being marginalized like an invisible shadow. Even as the KOSPI index continues an astonishing upward trend, rising approximately 35% since the beginning of the year, Samsung Biologics, once hailed as the flagship of the domestic biotechnology industry, is showing a completely different picture. Despite the company's remarkable feat of surpassing 2 trillion won in operating profit for the past year, becoming the first domestic biotech firm to achieve this milestone, it has failed to gain the trust of investors and has failed to attract market attention. Especially on the 23rd trading day, the stock plummeted by more than 3% compared to the previous trading day, closing at 1.514 million won, a figure that is nearly 24% lower than the high of 1.987 million won recorded during the trading session earlier this year. While the KOSPI index has risen during the same period, buoyed by the positive news of the flagship companies, this company has moved in the exact opposite direction of the market trend, completely undermining investor psychology.
The primary reason for this stock price weakness is a complex interplay of internal labor-management conflicts and external gaps in new order acquisitions. While the company's financial foundation has never been stronger, friction between the management and employees is blocking stock price appreciation. The labor union is strongly demanding a 14% wage increase, including shortened working hours, and the payment of 20% of operating profits as performance bonuses, leading to an impending general strike. Even though the court has issued a temporary injunction against the union's strike actions, the company is proceeding with legal appeals. As tensions between labor and management escalate, there are concerns about reduced factory utilization rates and delayed production schedules, which directly translate to falling stock prices.
The lack of news regarding new orders is also cited as a key factor weakening investor sentiment. Looking at the order backlog, a core indicator for judging the future value of a biotechnology company, it is alarming that there has been only one officially announced new order since the beginning of the year, further fueling market concerns. Seok Geun-hee, a researcher at Samsung Securities, emphasized that clear positive signals, such as new order announcements from production facilities in the United States and additional factory construction, must be confirmed to resolve the stock price weakness. In particular, although the company was in a favorable position in negotiations with global pharmaceutical companies, the market's expectations are waning as new order announcements have become scarce, raising questions about the company's growth potential.
Ultimately, the company is in a state where, despite having bright performance records and strong legal protective measures, it is suffering internally from labor-management conflicts and externally from an opaque future due to order gaps. Investors are judging that urgent improvements in labor-management relations and securing new orders are needed beyond short-term performance improvements. While voices are high for mediation to prevent the court's interim injunction from leading to long-term strikes, the stock price continues to show signs of stagnation. Looking ahead, how the company resolves its labor-management conflicts and secures major new orders in the global market will be the key to stock price recovery and the restoration of corporate value.