Sales at S. Korea's top 20 firms rise in Q2

SEOUL, Aug. 2 (Yonhap) -- The combined sales of South Korea's top 20
conglomerates rose in the second quarter amid signs the country was emerging from
the global economic recession, a market report showed Sunday.
Sales came to 88.9 trillion won (US$72.3 billion) during the April-June period,
up 0.9 percent from a year earlier and up 11.3 percent from the previous quarter,
according to FnGuide, a financial information service.
The conglomerates include Samsung, the state-run Korea Electric Power Corp.,
Hyundai Motor, SK, LG and steelmaker POSCO. Traditionally, the earnings of these
20 groups has made up nearly 50 percent of all earnings by companies listed on
the Seoul bourse.
Total operating profit stood at 5.97 trillion won, a 32.4 percent drop from a
year earlier but an almost five-fold gain from a quarter earlier.
The 20 groups also had a higher combined operating margin of 6.72 percent, after
it hit 0.29 percent in the fourth quarter of 2008.
"While U.S. companies improved their earnings on lower costs, South Korean
conglomerates improved their earnings through an expanded global market share in
areas such as IT products, in addition to cutting their costs," said Chun
Jong-woo, an analyst at Samsung Securities.
ygkim@yna.co.kr
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