KB News Desk
SM Entertainment unveiled its second-half artist lineup Wednesday, confirming new releases by Minho of Shinee and boy group WayV, along with a single from a new Girls’ Generation unit.
The company’s third-quarter lineup includes Red Velvet’s latest EP “Velvet Summer,” released Monday, as well as NCT 127’s upcoming LP “Blingy,” a solo EP from Shinee’s Minho, and an EP from WayV. A single is also due to be released from Girls’ Generation members Hyoyeon, Yuri and Sooyoung, who recently launched the trio HyoRiSoo.
In the fourth quarter, SM plans to release full-length albums from Super Junior’s Yesung, Girls’ Generation’s Taeyeon, NCT’s Jaehyun, and NCT Dream. Also scheduled are EPs by TVXQ’s Max Changmin, WayV’s Xiaojun, and NCT Wish, while girl group Hearts2Hearts will also release a new single.
The agency also outlined an active touring schedule for the remainder of the year.
Aespa will launch its world tour with concerts at Seoul’s Gocheok Sky Dome on Friday and Saturday before heading to North America and Europe. Additional tours by TVXQ’s U-Know, Super Junior unit 83z, Yesung, Ryeowook, NCT 127, and WayV are also planned, while NCT Wish will embark on a fan meeting tour.
The announcements came as SM reported improved financial results for the April-June period. The company posted consolidated revenue of 349.6 billion won ($245.6 million) and operating profit of 52.9 billion won, up 15.4 percent and 11 percent, respectively, from a year earlier.
According to SM, the growth was driven by its artists’ global concert tours, continued expansion of its merchandise and licensing business and improved earnings from its subsidiaries.
Standalone revenue rose 9.2 percent on-year to 240.6 billion won, supported by growth in artist appearance fees, concert revenue and merchandise sales. Standalone operating profit and net profit, however, fell 4.6 percent and 18.1 percent, respectively.
