Korean conglomerates’ net income halves: FTC

The Fair Trade Commission Sunday added five more business groups to its list of corporations with total assets of 5 trillion won ($4.1 billion) or more to its watch list, but said the firms’ net profits had almost halved since last year.

According to FTC Sunday, the business groups suffered a 48.1 percent on-year plunge in net income in 2019, from 92.5 trillion won to 48 trillion won, citing sluggish sales in semiconductors and petroleum products

The groups’ total revenue dipped from 1,422 trillion won to 1,401.6 trillion won in the same period.

Meanwhile, the Korean economy’s dependence on the top five chaebol groups -- Samsung, Hyundai Motor, SK, LG and Lotte -- has reduced. Though they respectively accounted for 54 percent, 57.1 percent, and 72.2 percent in total assets, revenue and net income among the 64 business groups in 2018, those figures dropped to 52.6 percent, 55.7 percent and 68.5 percent in 2019.

Five business groups -- Hyundai Merchant Marine, Sinokor Merchant Marine, IMM Investment, KG and Samyang -- have newly joined the corporate watch list, which now includes 64 business groups and their 2,284 affiliates.

The total assets of HMM, Sinokor Merchant Marine, IMM Investment, KG and Samyang are 6.5 trillion won, 6.4 trillion won, 6.3 trillion won, 5.3 trillion won and 5.1 trillion won, respectively.

By Kim Byung-wook (kbw@heraldcorp.com)