Earnings by S. Korea's listed firms jump 25 pct in Q3

SEOUL, Nov. 18 (Yonhap) -- Earnings by South Korea's listed firms jumped 25.4
percent in the third quarter from three months earlier due to a
faster-than-expected economic recovery, the bourse operator said Wednesday.
The combined net income of 570 companies listed on the Seoul main bourse stood at
19.3 trillion won (US$16.7 billion) in the July-September period, compared with
15.4 trillion won the previous quarter, the Korea Exchange (KRX) said.
Total sales rose 4 percent to 226.9 trillion won and operating profit spiked 37.7
percent to 19.3 trillion won, according to the KRX.
"Listed companies saw their earnings continue to improve in the third quarter
after they were hit by the economic slowdown in the first quarter," the exchange
said in a statement.
In the January-September period, their cumulative earnings reached 36.7 trillion
won, up 0.26 percent from a year earlier, according to the bourse operator.
The strong earnings coincided with the economy growing at a better-than-expected
2.9 percent in the third quarter. It was the fastest pace in more than seven
years and the third consecutive quarter of growth.
Buoyed by the powerful corporate earnings and growing appetites for risk, the
nation's key KOSPI index has advanced 41 percent so far this year.
pbr@yna.co.kr
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