Half of top Korean conglomerates’ H1 sales fall

[THE INVESTOR] One out of four affiliates of South Korea’s 10 largest conglomerates experienced a sales decline in the first half of the year, the Korea Exchange said Aug. 18.

The Korea Exchange’s analysis of the consolidated financial statements of 68 publicly traded affiliates of the 10 largest conglomerates showed that 26 firms’ first half sales have declined on-year.

Of these, seven companies, including POSCO, LG Display and Hyundai Heavy Industries, recorded sales drops ranging from 1 trillion won (US$904 million) to over 5.3 trillion won. 

By group, half of the 10 largest conglomerates saw sales drop during the first half of the year. The largest decline was recorded by SK Group, whose sales fell more than 6.84 trillion won, followed by POSCO with 6.6 trillion won. Hyundai Heavy Industries Group saw a fall of 4.12 trillion won, while LG Group’s first half sales dropped by more than 1.44 trillion won.

Overall, the combined first half sales of the 68 companies rose 0.28 percent from a year ago to come in at about 496.18 trillion won.

However, much of the rise was driven by Samsung Electronics, whose first half sales came to 100.72 trillion won, up 5.06 trillion won from a year ago.

Excluding the electronics giant, the combined first half sales of the concerned companies had fallen 0.93 percent.

Choi He-suk (cheesuk@heraldcorp.com)