40% largest Korean firms miss H1 earnings target

[THE INVESTOR] The first half of 2016 saw 40 percent of South Korea’s largest companies miss their earnings target, a survey showed on Aug. 1.

According to a survey conducted by Federation of Korean Industries, 41.7 percent of the country’s largest companies said that their first-half results fell short of the targets set at the beginning of the year. The FKI surveyed the country’s 600 largest companies by sales, and the results are based on the answered provided by 307 participating firms. 

In contrast, only 25.7 percent said that the results came in above the targets.

The FKI said that more companies said that results fell short of the targets in the most recent survey than that seen in the May survey. In addition, there was an 11.1 percentage point rise in the proportion of companies that expected the annual earnings figures to fall short of the targets, the FKI said.

The survey also showed that more than half of the respondents plan to focus on cost cutting, restructuring and other measures for streamlining their operations during the second half of the year.

By Choi He-suk (cheesuk@heraldcorp.com)