The combined net profit of S. Korea’s top 10 conglomerates shrank 20 percent in the first half, dragged heavily down by Samsung Group’s poor first-half performance. Samsung Group’s operating profit and net profit halved in the first half of this year from a year ago.
According to corporate tracker Chaebul-dot-com on August 18, the combined first-half net profit (based on separate financial statements) of the top 10 conglomerates (except financial companies) dropped 20.2 percent y-o-y to 18.2 trillion won from 22.8 trillion won.
The combined first-half sales of the top 10 amounted to 312.7 trillion won, down 8.3 percent from 341.1 trillion won in the same period last year. The combined first-half operating profit of the top 10 also shed 11.8 percent y-o-y to 20.8 trillion won from 23.6 trillion won.
Samsung’s first-half operating profit tumbled 52.8 percent y-o-y to 5.4 trillion won this year from 11.5 trillion won.
Its first-half net profit plunged 51.0 percent y-o-y to 5.1 trillion won this year from 10.5 trillion won. Its first-half sales dipped 10.5 percent y-o-y from 103.8 trillion won to 92.9 trillion won.
Five other conglomerates also witnessed their first-half net profits fall year-over-year: Hyundai Motor (-17.0%), POSCO (-2.9%), GS (-19.4%), Hyundai Heavy Industries (-53.4%) and Hanjin (-48.8%).
On the other hand, SK’s first-half net profit gained 25.9 percent y-o-y, LG’s 49.8 percent, Lotte’s 44.3 percent and Hanwha’s 25.1 percent.
Hyundai Heavy’s first-half operating profit plummeted 62.1 percent y-o-y while Hanwha’s first-half operating profit slid 12.8% y-o-y. Seven of the top 10 saw their operating profits gain: Hyundai Motor (4.9%), SK (16.3%), LG (40.2%), Lotte (45.7%), POSCO (11.2%), GS (13.3%) and Hanjin (whose operating profit turned positive in H1).
