KEPCO KPS (051600.KS) Q1 2026: Nuclear Ramp Sends Profit Up 375%
A surge in planned preventive maintenance units — from five to thirteen year-on-year — unlocked operating leverage that had been dormant through a weak FY2025, restoring margins that had compressed by a third over the prior year.
Source: Quarterly Report (43rd Fiscal Year, Q1) — Filed 15 May 2026 with DART | Consolidated Financial Statements | Unit: ₩ billions
After a year in which operating profit fell 33% on near-flat revenue, KEPCO KPS entered 2026 with a sharp and unambiguous reversal. Q1 2026 consolidated revenue rose 22.4% year-on-year to ₩352.4 billion, while operating profit vaulted from ₩7.8 billion to ₩37.0 billion — a 375% gain in a single quarter — lifting the operating margin from 2.7% to 10.5%. The mechanics are straightforward: planned preventive maintenance units executed in the nuclear and pumped-storage segment leapt from five to thirteen year-on-year, driving the cost-of-sales ratio down seven percentage points (from 89.0% to 82.0%) and converting a 22.4% revenue increase into a near-doubling of gross profit. Two important caveats accompany the headline numbers — Q1 is structurally the lowest-volume quarter in the maintenance billing calendar, and the profit improvement arrived alongside a ₩108.9 billion build-up in unbilled work-in-progress that pushed operating cash flow into deficit for the period. Neither observation diminishes the recovery signal, but both are material to interpreting whether Q1 marks the start of a sustained FY2026 earnings recovery.
