SK Square (402340.KS): Square Steps Up

During market hours on Nov 2, SK Square announced its renewed shareholder return plan. The company now plans to return at least 60% of recurring dividend income through 2028 and 100% of the Kioxia special receipts covered by SK hynix's October 28 plan. This exceeds our 50% return assumption and doubles the company's previous 30% recurring floor. The recurring rate increase alone raises our modeled returns by 20%; full pass-through of Kioxia receipts adds a much larger near-term uplift. Square's 146.1mn SK hynix shares generate W2.922tr of gross dividend income from the declared W20,000 DPS. The W10,000 earnings-linked DPS contributes W1.461tr, of which at least W0.877tr would be allocated to shareholders; the other W1.461tr, from Kioxia, is earmarked in full. Together, that implies at least W2.338tr, or 80% of the gross inflow, versus W1.461tr at our previous 50% assumption. SK hynix has confirmed that the Kioxia special dividend is planned in two installments, with the second included