Team Leader
Academic Finance Project

CJ FreshwayCorporate Financial Planning

A three-year financial plan that follows a 5% growth assumption all the way to the bill.

Role: Team Leader
Ownership: Team project, 6 members
Context: Business Finance, Korea University / Team 4
When: 2026

Academic analysis for a Korea University finance course, built from CJ Freshway's DART filings.

Every extra won of sales at CJ Freshway arrives with a bill attached, for more inventory, more receivables and more trucks.

That bill is the reason we chose the company. In food distribution, sales are tied tightly to inventory, receivables and logistics assets, so the link between growth and funding is easy to see. Starting from FY2025 and H1 2026 figures in the company's DART filings, our team modelled what 5% annual growth would demand in new assets, and how much of it would have to be raised outside.

KRW 3.48tn: FY2025 revenue, a record (operating profit KRW 101.7bn)
45.65%: Asset-to-sales ratio used to size growth
KRW 83.0bn: Additional assets needed in 2027
KRW 27.8bn: External financing needed in 2027

Revenue on a 5% pathAbout 4.5% growth in 2026, in line with the first half, then a 5% planning baseline.

3.642026E

3.822027E

4.012028E

4.212029E

KRW tn. The axis starts above zero to show the yearly steps.

Source: team report, p.2, revenue forecasts. Planning assumptions.

The assumptions

Revenue grew about 4.5% year on year in H1 2026, so we carried that into 2026 and used a 5% baseline for 2027 to 2029, as a planning assumption and not a target. Operating margin had slipped from 2.9% to 2.0%, which is why we let it recover gradually to 2.5%, 2.7% and 2.9%, keeping the 88% retention ratio from 2025.

Operating margin recovers step by stepFrom 2.0% in the first half of 2026 back to 2.9% by 2029, with 88% of net income retained, as in 2025.

2.0%2.5%2.7%2.9%

H1 20262027E2028E2029E

Source: team report, p.3, operating margins and retention. Forecast assumptions.

2027: where the KRW 83.0 billion comes fromMost of the new assets fund themselves through payables and retained earnings. What is left has to be raised outside.

83.0Additional assets

−21.6Rise in payables

−33.6Retained earnings

27.8External financing

KRW bn, 2027E

Source: team report, p.4, external financing needed. Figures calculated on unrounded numbers.

The numbers

From growth to external financing
Item	2027E	2028E	2029E
Revenue (KRW tn)	3.8184	4.0093	4.2098
Additional assets (KRW bn)	83.0	87.2	91.5
Less: rise in payables	21.6	22.7	23.8
Less: retained earnings	33.6	38.8	44.5
External financing needed	27.8	25.6	23.2

Figures from the report, calculated on unrounded numbers, so a total can differ by 0.1. See it in the report, p.4

How we'd fund it

Before raising anything, the company should release the cash already tied up in receivables and inventory. For the rest, CJ Freshway's KRW 94 billion of unsecured bonds in April 2026 showed that medium-term debt was within reach, and long-lived logistics assets deserve financing that matches their life, which short-term borrowing never does.

If growth falls short

At 2 to 3% growth, the 2027 asset requirement would have to be recalculated. In that case we would delay projects that haven't started instead of reversing ones under way, tighten purchasing and collection terms, and exit weak non-core businesses while protecting the parts that generate future cash.

On a sales forecast, 5% is only one number. To the finance team, it is an invoice that arrives every year, and someone has to be ready to pay it.

My role

Team Leader of Business Finance Team 4. I led the model of the 5% growth case, from the assets it needs to the external financing and the funding options.

Skills used

Financial planning, Forecasting, Working capital, Team leadership