Sales of venture businesses in South Korea rose nearly 14 percent in 2011 from a year earlier, outperforming large companies and small and medium enterprises (SMEs), a report said Monday.

The average revenue of local venture companies gained 13.9 percent on-year to 7.03 billion won ($6.47 million) last year, according to the report by the Small and Medium Business Administration (SMBA). The report is based on a survey of 2,034 new companies throughout the country.

The sales growth rate outpaced a 13.1 percent increase for large companies and a 10.6 percent gain for SMEs. The ventures' operating margin, or the ratio of operating income to revenue, stood at 4.7 percent, also higher than 3.1 percent for smaller firms.

"The rise in venture firms' sales was driven by brisk car, textile, machinery and metal industries, which in turn got a boost from strong demand from Japan in the wake of the March earthquake as well as South Korea's free trade deals," an SMBA official said.

Despite venture firms' strong sales, 16.1 percent of them said they had experienced unfair trading practices with large companies, but 57 percent replied such unfair practices were serious, the report said.

"Trading practices between small companies and conglomerates are improving due to the latter's efforts for simultaneous growth, but the government should come up with sustainable measures to boost such cooperation," the official added. (Yonhap News)