Lee Yeon-woo is a financial journalist at The Korea Times. Her wide range of reporting includes policies, macroeconomics, stock market, companies and even crypto. She is passionate about connecting the dots in Korean finance and making it easier for foreign nationals to understand. Based on her previous experience as a national reporter, she also has a keen interest in social issues within the sector, including gender equality and ESG. Your tips and insights are always appreciated. You can send them to yanu@koreatimes.co.kr.
Nationalist buying wave rescues stocks facing delisting
A promotional image of Monami / Screenshot from Monami’s Instagram account
By Lee Yeon-woo
For decades, Monami's familiar ballpoint pens have filled Korean classrooms, offices and pencil cases. Now, a wave of nostalgia-driven buying is giving the 65-year-old stationery maker an unexpected lifeline in the stock market.
"Now that I'm an adult who can buy Monami shares, I've placed an order, hoping there is still room for a little nostalgia in this world. Please keep going," an investor wrote on a local brokerage's online community.
"Who in Korea hasn't heard of Monami pens? A company like this deserves to thrive as a long-standing Korean brand," another wrote.
Such expressions of affection have quickly translated into buying interest, as retail investors rallied around the company. According to the Korea Exchange, Monami shares jumped 25.66 percent on Friday to close at 2,145 won ($1.43), marking a sharp rebound from their all-time low of 1,065 won on June 26.
The company had faced the risk of delisting after the Korea Exchange moved to tighten the market capitalization requirements for maintaining a stock market listing. As public interest surged, Monami's shares soared, pushing its market capitalization to 40.5 billion won — well above the 30 billion won threshold required to maintain its KOSPI listing.
"We have been deeply moved by the wave of support for Monami spreading online in recent days, while also feeling a profound sense of responsibility," Monami CEO Song Jae-hwa said in a statement. "We will repay your support with better products and a sincere commitment to quality."
Monami was not the only company pulled back from the brink of delisting by the wave of patriotic investment, despite showing no clear improvement in earnings or announcing any new business initiatives.
Hansung Enterprise, the maker of imitation crab stick Crami, also drew attention for having sponsored a concert honoring Korean War veterans for 25 years. A social media campaign encouraging consumers to share photos of their Crami purchases followed, while sending the company's shares to their daily limit on both Thursday and Friday, lifting its market capitalization above 50 billion won.
However, market watchers said it remains uncertain whether the companies can maintain its KOSPI listing without improving their earnings. The market capitalization threshold is set to rise to 50 billion won on Jan. 1, 2027.
Monami swung to an operating loss of 2.3 billion won in 2023, with the deficit widening to 3.8 billion won in 2024 and 5.9 billion won last year. Its core stationery business continues to shrink structurally as the school-age population declines, while its new cosmetics development and manufacturing business has yet to deliver results.
Hansung Enterprise's earnings also weakened amid rising raw-material costs and deteriorating profitability, with operating profit falling from 11 billion won in 2024 to 5.8 billion won in 2025.
"Expectations of efforts to bolster share prices and avert delisting could inevitably heighten short-term volatility in the affected stocks," said Kang Jin-hyuk, an analyst at Shinhan Securities.