Samsung C&T Tops Construction Company Ratings for 7 Consecutive Years... SK Construction Returns to 'Top 10'

Published 29 Jul.2020 11:00(KST)

Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport Announces '2020 Construction Capability Evaluation'

No Change in Top 4 Rankings: Samsung-Hyundai-Daelim-GS
SK Construction Reenters Top 10... 5th Posco and 6th Daewoo Swap Positions

Daelim Construction, Merged with Samho and Goryeo Development, Ranks 17th
Dongbu Construction Advances 15 Places to 21st 'Remarkable Progress'

(Provided by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport)

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Chun-hee] Samsung C&T has achieved the remarkable feat of ranking first for seven consecutive years in this year's domestic construction companies' construction capacity evaluation. SK Engineering & Construction, which had dropped to 11th place last year, successfully re-entered the top 10, and Daelim Construction, formed by the merger of Samho and Korea Development, secured 17th place, similar to initial expectations at its launch.

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport announced the '2020 Construction Capacity Evaluation' on the 29th, which comprehensively assessed nationwide construction companies based on construction performance, management status, technical capability, and credibility. In the civil engineering and architecture construction sector, Samsung C&T ranked first for the seventh consecutive year with KRW 20.8461 trillion.

Samsung C&T CI

Following that, Hyundai Engineering & Construction recorded KRW 12.3953 trillion to take second place, closely pursued by Daelim Industrial with KRW 11.1639 trillion. GS Engineering & Construction ranked fourth with KRW 10.4669 trillion. The top four companies maintained the same rankings as last year without any changes.

There were some changes in ranks from 5th to 10th place. SK Engineering & Construction, which had dropped out of the 'top 10' last year at 11th place (KRW 4.2587 trillion), restored its honor by ranking 10th this year with an evaluation amount of KRW 5.1806 trillion.

5th place Posco Engineering & Construction (KRW 8.6061 trillion) and 6th place Daewoo Engineering & Construction (KRW 8.4132 trillion) swapped their rankings compared to last year. The remaining 7th place Hyundai Engineering (KRW 7.677 trillion), 8th place Lotte Engineering & Construction (KRW 6.5158 trillion), and 9th place HDC Hyundai Development Company (KRW 6.1593 trillion) maintained their positions from last year.

Hoban Construction, which entered the top 10 for the first time last year with an evaluation amount of KRW 4.4208 trillion, regrettably dropped back to 12th place as its evaluation amount decreased to KRW 3.7169 trillion. Hanwha Engineering & Construction rose one rank to 11th place with an evaluation amount of KRW 3.7169 trillion.

Daelim Construction CI

Among mid-sized construction companies, Daelim Construction and Dongbu Construction showed remarkable progress. Daelim Construction, launched by the merger of Samho and Korea Development, which were ranked 30th (KRW 1.3064 trillion) and 54th (KRW 623.9 billion) respectively last year, secured 17th place with an evaluation amount of KRW 1.8089 trillion, similar to the expected ranking at its launch.

Dongbu Construction, which has shown continuous growth since graduating from court receivership in 2016 and declared re-entry into the housing business last year by resuming advertising for its housing brand 'Centreville' after nine years, also made significant progress in this evaluation. Dongbu Construction ranked 36th last year with an evaluation amount of KRW 1.1678 trillion and jumped 15 places to 21st with KRW 1.7116 trillion this year.

The construction capacity evaluation is a system announced annually at the end of July and applied from August 1st, which comprehensively evaluates construction performance, management status, technical capability, and credibility to help clients select appropriate construction companies. Clients can restrict bidding based on the evaluation amount, and it is used as a basis for limiting bidding eligibility according to construction scale, such as the Public Procurement Service's qualified bidders list and minimum contract price system.

This year, the total construction capacity evaluation amount for civil engineering and architecture construction was KRW 258.1356 trillion, a 3.7% increase from last year's KRW 248.8895 trillion.

The 'performance evaluation amount,' which assesses results over three years, was KRW 100.8 trillion. Although this is a slight increase from last year's KRW 100.4 trillion, the growth rate was only 0.4%, showing a significant slowdown from 8.2% in 2018 and 4.1% last year, decreasing by about 4 percentage points for two consecutive years.

The management evaluation amount, indicating improvements in management ratios such as debt dependency, increased by 9.6% from last year to KRW 98.5 trillion, and the 'credibility evaluation amount' rose by 6.9% to KRW 15.8 trillion. On the other hand, the 'technical evaluation amount' decreased by 1.9% to KRW 42.8 trillion.