Coupang

Coupang is an ecommerce retailer with a growing ecosystem beyond just ecommerce, based in South Korea.

The business was founded by Bom Suk Kim, who remains the CEO and driving force behind it. Since its founding in 2010, the management team has executed superbly and now command just under 30% ecommerce market share. We expect their market share to continue to increase due to the excellent customer value proposition and they have also developed the second biggest food delivery business in South Korea, leveraging their ecosystem and loyal customers who are highly engaged. Beyond South Korea, Coupang is building a business in Taiwan that could be material over time, especially considering that Taiwanese ecommerce penetration is significantly lower than in South Korea, which provides natural market growth tailwinds for a strong executor to take advantage of. The business has begun an inflection towards profitability as the scale of the business becomes evident and they realise operational leverage from many years of foundational investment. Considering this, the business trades on a 22 times 2026 multiple which embeds an EBIT margin that is still well below normal. Earnings growth beyond 2026 should thus remain in the mid-30% range, leading to a rapid unwinding of this multiple.

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