Financial reports claim that no new girl groups have been lined up from 3 of the biggest K-Pop companies.

According to Lee Ki Hoon of Hana Institute of Finance, "there will be no new girl groups from SM, YG, and Big Hit Entertainment this year." Meanwhile, Lee asserted that it would be "difficult to forecast a failure from ITZY, given that they are a follow-up girl group of TWICE from JYP Entertainment."

Instead, financial experts expect that a company, such as SM Entertainment, will focus on their current artists. With NCT, for example, the agency has plans to make them into a group that sells over 300,000 albums, with more solo domestic and international tours, including the upcoming Japan tour that will begin this month.

'2019 is the year of #RV & #NCT growth. The faster two groups grow, the more favorable they're to the company profit.' (KTB투자증권 - 190131) pic.twitter.com/YdJMxGB4BY — 오락물 (@A041510) January 31, 2019

The same goes for Red Velvet. The SM girl group will launch their 7-city (7-days) U.S. tour in 2019, beginning with Los Angeles in February. "Having Red Velvet and NCT grow together this year would be beneficial for both of them," as reports claim.

'Expanding area of new group activities (starting performance contribution with concert)' #SM (한화투자증권 - 190131) pic.twitter.com/46LX8wDTXw — 오락물 (@A041510) January 31, 2019

Furthermore, it seems that in the year 2019 we will see more 'glimpses' of rookies -- international trainees -- rather than official debuts, and not only from the companies previously mentioned but also from an agency such as FNC Entertainment.

진투자증권 - 190109#JYP CHN male group 'BOY STORY' debut, JPN women only group will make their debut in '19#SM WayV debut in Jan '19 which consists of only CHN member#FNC CHN male group debut in '19#YG high possibility to debut JPN trainees that introduced in YG treasure box pic.twitter.com/HisrT7zJhJ — 오락물 (@A041510) January 12, 2019

Which activities from those companies are you most excited to see?