Korean Inc. records strongest sales and profitability improvement Q2: BOK

South Korean companies saw their profitability improve in the second quarter, with sales soaring by strongest of nearly 20 percent from a year ago, driven by strong exports despite ongoing pandemic, central bank data showed Wednesday.

The revenue surged 18.7 percent on year in the April-June period, strongest on record, according to the Bank of Korea data based on 3,755 samples for a statistical survey of 20,120 manufacturing and non-manufacturing companies.

The ratio of operating profit to sales of these companies came to 7.4 percent in the second quarter, up from 5.2 percent a year ago, while the pretax net profit margin increased to 8.2 percent from 4.6 percent.

By sector, both manufacturing and manufacturing sectors achieved improvement in sales. The operating margin in electrics and electronics widened to 11.8 percent in the second quarter up from 8.2 percent a year ago, driven by a rise in chip prices and exports.

The financial health of Korean companies showed a slight improvement in the second quarter, with their debt dependence down to 24.6 percent from 24.9 percent in the previous quarter. The debt equity ratio also fell to 86.6 percent from 89.9 percent over the cited period.

[¨Ï Maeil Business Newspaper & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]