Amid its overseas expansion as a duty-free shop operator, there are expectations for Hotel Shilla to end its downward spiral that has lasted for almost two years sparked by a series of external risks.

Local analysts Thursday pinned hopes on Samsung Group’s affiliate devoted to duty-free shops and accommodations, as it won a license for a duty-free shop selling perfumes, cosmetics, fashion items and accessories at Hong Kong Chek Kap Kok International Airport the previous day.

Yang Il-woo, an analyst at Samsung Securities, raised the target price of Hotel Shilla by 4 percent, from 53,000 won ($46.80) to 55,000 won. Its stock price closed at 47,800 won Thursday, up 800 won, or 1.7 percent, from Wednesday.

“The business expansion is expected to allow Hotel Shilla to minimize geopolitical risk,” Yang said. “Despite China’s recent travel curb on Korea, local duty-free shop operators have maintained competitive prices.”

Another securities firm, Mirae Asset Daewoo, kept the target price at 62,000 won. The figure remained flat compared to the previous quarter, for the first time in six quarters, ending its consecutive drop.

Hotel Shilla’s stock had plummeted over the past two years due to factors such as the outbreak of the Middle East respiratory syndrome in May 2015. Its stock stood at 118,500 won in June 1, 2015 and has rarely seen a drastic upward turn since then.

The analysts’ anticipation came in line with Hotel Shilla’s third opening of a duty-free store at international airports at home and abroad, following stores in Singapore Changi International Airport in 2014 and in Incheon Airport in 2008.

As of 2016, some 70.5 million passengers moved through the Hong Kong airport, while 58.7 million people and 57.7 million were in transit at the airports in Singapore and Incheon, respectively, in 2016, according to data from each airport.

“Hotel Shilla has made a groundbreaking achievement by winning the permission,” Hahm Seung-hee, an analyst at Mirae Asset Daewoo, wrote in a Thursday report. “The news can be seen as proof of Hotel Shilla’s decent performance in Singapore Changi International Airport.”

Hotel Shilla is poised to open a duty-free shop in the downtown Shinjuku district of Tokyo on April 27.

By Son Ji-hyoung (consnow@heraldcorp.com)