Ohouse said on Monday its revenue last year rose about 11.7 percent from a year earlier to 321.5 billion won. It topped 300 billion won in revenue for the first time since it was founded in 2014.

The company said it continued double-digit revenue growth for 11 straight years as a result of pre-emptive investment for future growth despite a prolonged industry downturn. Ohouse plans to improve its business structure with the goal of building a long-term growth foundation across online and offline channels.

Operating loss during the period was tallied at about 14.7 billion won. An Ohouse official said it focused on strengthening mid- to long-term competitiveness, including investment to accelerate growth in its interior construction business, expanding offline hubs, global expansion and advancing artificial intelligence technology, rather than short-term profit and loss.

Revenue from interior construction transactions, which it described as its next growth engine, rose more than 3.5 times from a year earlier. The company said it expanded the number of Standard partners to about 400, broadening its business-to-business ecosystem. Ohouse Standard is a service that boosts price transparency by providing standard contracts and standard quotes.

In line with the uptrend in its construction business, its interior building materials distribution business is also creating synergy. The company said it expects the construction business to become a key growth engine going forward based on this trend.

The company is expanding customer touchpoints by rolling out offline hubs in succession, including Ohouse Bukchon and the Ohouse Interior Pangyo Lounge, breaking down the boundary between online and offline. It is also reviewing plans to open new lounges this year, centered on Seoul and major metropolitan cities.

Ohouse also stressed that as of the end of last year it held more than 240 billion won in cash and cash equivalents and is continuing debt-free management without external borrowings. The company forecast that its revenue growth rate in the first quarter of this year will double from a year earlier.

Young-hwan Ji (지영환), head of finance at Ohouse, said last year it accelerated sustainable growth through pre-emptive investment in online-to-offline, global and tech areas despite a difficult macro environment. He said construction and global are in a growth phase, but it expects profitability to recover along with scale expansion as improvements in unit economics are being confirmed.

He added that this year it will continue to pursue its business without being constrained by short-term performance fluctuations under its stance of continuing bold investment.