Published : Aug. 21, 2017 - 11:59
Samsung and two other leading family-controlled conglomerates in South Korea accounted for a big chunk of listed firms' first-half earnings, data showed Monday, pointing to a growing concentration of corporate income in a few titans.
According to the data by the Korea Exchange, 29 listed units of Samsung, LG and SK groups posted a combined net income of 35.61 trillion won ($31.2 billion) in the January-June period, up a whopping 90.3 percent from the same period a year earlier.
The amount took up 58.7 percent of the 60.69 trillion won net income registered by 533 non-financial companies traded on the main stock market, up from 38.3 percent a year earlier. The firms close their books in December.
(Yonhap)
The data also showed 63 listed affiliates of the nation's top 10 conglomerates reported a combined net profit of 45.99 billion won during the six-month period, up 45.8 percent from a year ago.
The figure accounted for 75.8 percent of all listed firms' first-half earnings, compared with 64.7 percent during the same period a year earlier.
Excluding the units of Samsung, LG and SK groups, the total net income of the listed firms sank 16.6 percent on-year to 25.08 trillion won, according to the data.
(Yonhap)
Samsung, whose flagship is global tech giant Samsung Electronics Co., is South Korea's top conglomerate by assets. SK is the third-largest business group and LG, the fourth largest.
Analysts said such a concentration of corporate earnings in a few large companies is not desirable, stressing the need to change the nation's economic structure into one where small and medium enterprises play a greater role. (Yonhap)