GLOBAL EQUITY RESEARCH: INTERNATIONAL FIRST TO MARKET

Research evidence excerpt

GLOBAL EQUITY RESEARCH: INTERNATIONAL FIRST TO MARKET

for applying AIDD compared to overseas; and 3) The above factors have driven Big Pharma

deal flow, clinical milestones, and significant topline growth, providing early validation for AIDD companies. We see a multi-year

rerating opportunity, with Insilico and XtalPi offering complementary investment theses. We like Insilico for its high-risk, high

reward pipeline built through AIDD and like XtalPi for its diverse businesses led by AIDD services and robotics wet lab. We rate

both Insilico and XtalPi OW with PTs of HK$71 and HK$10, respectively.

KB Financial Group (Jihyun Cho) (105560 KS, OW, PT W220,000), South Korea

Robust 2Q earnings with fee expansion and credit cost reduction; ROE hikes to extend re-rating

rally; OW

KB delivered record-high net profit of W2.0tn, ~5% above heightened Street expectations. While NII softened on a sharper NIM

contraction (~3bps by pre-emptive funding efforts) alongside one-off accounting impacts, the top line proved resilient; (1) a

positive surprise in non-interest income (strong fee growth and higher trading gains) and (2) well-contained credit costs after

conservative provisioning. Strong earnings lifted CET1 to 13.74% (+10bps q/q) in 2Q26, enabling incremental shareholder

returns. On top of the W405bn quarterly cash dividend, management confirmed excess capital of W880bn to be used for 2H26

shareholder return budgets via (1) a W700bn buyback/cancellation over the next six months and (2) the remaining W180bn via

either an additional 2026 buyback or a higher year-end dividend. Including the W2.82tn shareholder return package announced

in Feb-26, we expect ~W3.7tn total shareholder returns in 2026E (c. 55% TSR). Given strong earnings and progressive