SEOUL, Listed companies in South Korea probably saw their total operating income sink 16 percent on-year in 2023 due mainly to the sluggish chip business, a market tracker said Monday.
The combined operating income of 247 listed firms is estimated at 297.9 trillion won (US$226 billion) last year, compared with 356.2 trillion won a year earlier, according to FnGuide.
The latest estimate is down 25 percent from their forecast made at the start of last year.
The companies cover corporations for which three or more securities companies have put forward earnings projections.
Listed firms’ operating profit probably fell 16 pct in 2023: market tracker – 1
“Their 2023 total operating profit probably shrank from the previous year as the semiconductor industry remained in the doldrums,” NH Investment and Securities analyst Na Jeong-hwan said.
The operating income of top-cap and chip titan Samsung Electronics Co. is estimated to tumble 74 percent to 7.4 trillion won over the cited period.
The operating loss of a
nother chip giant, SK hynix Inc., is estimated at 8.4 trillion won last year, about three times that of 2022.
In contrast, the operating incomes of the top automaker Hyundai Motor Co. and its smaller affiliate Kia Corp. are estimated to have surged 53 percent and 56 percent, respectively.
Meanwhile, the combined operating income of 253 listed firms is forecast to jump 58 percent on-year to 468.8 trillion won in 2024 on the back of the brisk chip and rechargeable battery sectors.
Samsung Electronics is predicted to see its operating income rise nearly four times to 34.3 trillion won, with SK hynix switching to a profit of 8.7 trillion won.
But the operating profits of Hyundai Motor and Kia are both projected to decline 4 percent in 2024 from last year, according to FnGuide.
Source: Yonhap News Agency