Despite Interest Rate Hikes and Inflation Pressure, First Half Sales and Profits of Listed Companies Reach All-Time Highs

[Asia Economy Reporter Kwon Jae-hee] Despite global interest rate hikes and inflationary pressures, KOSPI-listed companies saw a significant increase in sales, operating profit, and net profit in the first half of the year compared to the same period last year.

According to the 2021 first half financial results of December fiscal year-end corporations in the KOSPI market announced by the Korea Exchange on the 18th, the consolidated sales of 603 companies (excluding financial industries) in the KOSPI market reached KRW 1,361.8708 trillion, marking a 25.09% increase compared to the same period last year.

Operating profit was KRW 107.3084 trillion, and net profit was KRW 85.807 trillion, increasing by 16.68% and 0.67%, respectively.

Sales, operating profit, and net profit all recorded the highest levels ever for the first half of the year.

However, the operating profit margin (operating profit to sales ratio) and net profit margin were 7.88% and 6.30%, respectively, down 0.57 percentage points and 1.53 percentage points from the same period last year.

Even excluding Samsung Electronics, the largest company by market capitalization in the KOSPI market (accounting for 11.38% of consolidated sales), consolidated sales and operating profit increased by 25.77% and 12.956%, respectively, achieving record-high results. However, net profit decreased by 7.42%.

By industry, among 17 sectors based on consolidated financial results, operating profit increased in 15 sectors including Transportation and Warehousing (178.29%), Transportation Equipment (85.65%), Textile and Apparel (64.26%), Services (48.19%), and Distribution (45.67%), while two sectors?Electricity and Gas (turned to deficit) and Construction (-28.33%)?saw a decline in operating profit.

Among financial sectors, securities and insurance showed particularly poor performance.

The consolidated operating profit of 43 financial companies (excluding individual companies) was KRW 24.3784 trillion, and net profit was KRW 18.6632 trillion, decreasing by 8.58% and 7.47%, respectively.

While financial holding companies (4.86%) and banks (0.67%) saw an increase in net profit compared to the same period last year, securities (-43.44%) and insurance (-11.32%) experienced significant declines.

The scale of consolidated net profit was KRW 11.2938 trillion for financial holding companies, KRW 3.462 trillion for insurance, KRW 2.1575 trillion for securities, and KRW 1.2366 trillion for banks.

Among the 603 companies analyzed in the KOSPI market, 483 companies (80.10%) posted net profits, a decrease of 20 companies (3.32 percentage points) compared to the same period last year (503 companies). Loss-making companies numbered 120, accounting for 19.90%.

The consolidated debt ratio of KOSPI-listed companies was 118.28%, up 1.98 percentage points compared to the end of last year.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.