Large firms' operating profit soars 57.1 pct in Q1

SEOUL, May 17 (Yonhap) -- Major companies in South Korea saw their first-quarter operating income spike more than 57 percent, driven by strong performances in the chip and IT sectors, a corporate tracker said Friday.

The combined net profits of the 334 companies out of South Korea's top 500 companies by sales reached 50.6 trillion won (US$37.4 billion) for the January-March period, up 57.1 percent from 32.2 trillion won from a year ago, according to CEO Score.

Their total sales edged up 0.5 percent on-year to 772.8 trillion won over the cited period.

The corporations cover those that have disclosed their quarterly financial statements for the first quarter as of Thursday.

By sector, the data showed 11 out of 19 industrial sectors experienced an increase in operating profits in the first quarter.

The IT sector, including the semiconductor industry, posted a combined 11.4 trillion won in operating profit for the three-month period ending in March, shifting from an operating loss of 866.6 billion won the previous year.

The sharp increase was led by booming demand for high-performance artificial intelligence memory chips, the CEO Score data also showed.

The carmaking and auto parts industry saw its operating profit rise 12.9 percent on-year to 8.9 trillion won for the quarter.

However, the petrochemical and steel sectors remained sluggish due to waning demand and rising oil prices amid ongoing military conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East.

Petrochemical companies' combined operating profit slumped 46.7 percent on-year to 2.4 trillion won, while that of steelmakers sank 32.6 percent on-year to 750.5 billion won.

By company, the state-run Korea Electric Power Corp. (KEPCO) had the biggest gain, with an operating income of some 1.3 trillion won in the first quarter, a sharp turnaround from a loss of 6.2 trillion won.

Samsung Electronics Co., the world's top memory chip maker, registered an operating income of 6.6 trillion won, up a whopping 931 percent from 640.2 billion won a year ago.

Its chipmaking rival SK hynix Inc. posted an operating profit of 2.9 trillion won for the first quarter, rebounding from a 3.4 trillion-won operating loss.

brk@yna.co.kr
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