Neptune said on Aug. 13 it decided to cancel its own shares for the first time since listing, following a board resolution.

Neptune plans to cancel 1,081,286 shares out of 1,801,049 treasury shares it previously acquired and holds. That equals 2.31 percent of total shares outstanding. Once the cancellation is completed, Neptune's treasury shares will fall to 719,763 shares.

Neptune said it will use the share cancellation as a starting point to establish and implement mid- to long-term shareholder return and corporate value policies. Earlier, Neptune cut capital surplus by 220 billion won from last year through this year and transferred it to retained earnings to build its financial base.

In the second half of this year, it plans to pursue performance improvements based on its core businesses. The company is currently running an adtech platform business in India through its Indian unit, KRAFTON Ad Platform India, and is continuing its hybrid casual mobile game development and publishing business.

Neptune CEO Yul-bin Kang (강율빈) said, "I will focus on ensuring that results in the core business and new business segments translate into performance, and I will review various shareholder return measures."