Public Companies' Operating Profit Down 74% in First Half... Even Excluding Samsung Electronics, Decline Continues for 2 Years

Operating Profit of Listed Companies Excluding Samsung Electronics Drops 40% Compared to Same Period Last Year
Operating Profit of KOSDAQ Listed Companies Also Decreases by 41.8% Compared to Same Period Last Year

Operating profit (individual basis) of KOSPI-listed companies in the first half of this year was only about one-quarter of last year's level.

According to the Korea Exchange on the 18th, the total sales (individual basis) of 704 companies listed on the KOSPI market from January to June amounted to KRW 719.5434 trillion, and operating profit was KRW 14.6278 trillion. Compared to the same period last year, sales decreased by 2.9%, and operating profit plummeted by a staggering 74%. As a result, the operating profit margin for the first half stood at 2.03%, down 5.57 percentage points from last year's 7.61%.

The sharp decline in operating profit is largely attributed to the poor performance of Samsung Electronics. Samsung Electronics, which accounts for about 11.4% of the total individual sales of all KOSPI-listed companies, recorded a loss of KRW 7.6 trillion in the first half alone. However, excluding Samsung Electronics, the operating profit of the remaining listed companies was KRW 22.2346 trillion, down 40% compared to the same period last year. This marks a decline for two consecutive years since recording about KRW 38.3 trillion in 2021.

Among the 704 KOSPI-listed companies included in this tally, about 20.6% (145 companies) were in the red. This means that one out of every five KOSPI companies posted a loss. The proportion of loss-making companies increased compared to 18% in the first half of last year. Overall, performance was sluggish throughout the first half, but there was a recovery trend in the second quarter compared to the first quarter. The individual operating profit of all KOSPI-listed companies in the second quarter was KRW 8.62 trillion, up 43.6% from KRW 6 trillion in the first quarter.

By industry, the largest deficit occurred in the electric and electronics sector, including Samsung Electronics, with losses exceeding KRW 13 trillion. This was followed by the electricity and gas sector (-KRW 6.64 trillion) and medical precision (-KRW 29 billion). Although not in deficit, the construction and transportation and warehousing sectors showed a decrease of over 65% in operating profit due to the real estate market downturn. The chemical sector also saw operating profit drop by about 64%, while paper and wood (-59%) and steel and metals (-44%) sectors also performed poorly.

The situation was not much different for KOSDAQ-listed companies. Among 1,403 KOSDAQ-listed companies (out of 1,634 December fiscal year-end corporations, excluding 234 companies that did not submit regular reports or were subject to delisting), total sales in the first half reached KRW 91.5 trillion, a slight increase of 1.2% compared to last year. However, operating profit was only KRW 4.2 trillion, down about 41.8% during the same period. The operating profit margin also fell from 8.0% in the first half of last year to 4.6% this year. About 40% of KOSDAQ-listed companies, or 552 companies, recorded losses.

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