S. Korea's top 500 companies achieve sale milestone of near $550 bn Q1

The combined sales of South Korea’s top 500 companies by revenue have surpassed 700 trillion won ($548.4 billion) for the first time in the first quarter, with information technology (IT) and electric, and electronics industry accounting for nearly one-fifth of the total led by chip industry boom.

According to Seoul-based business tracker CEO Score on Tuesday, 344 of top 500 companies by sales that handed in their first quarter reports have raised 793 trillion won in sales in the first quarter ended March, up 19.8 percent from the same period a year ago. It is the first time for the quarterly total to surpass 700 trillion won.

By sector, IT, electric, and electronics sector, which includes Samsung Electronics Co., reported the largest sales of 143.3 trillion won, followed by petrochemicals (101.4 trillion won), automobile and components (80.4 trillion won), insurance (67.1 trillion won), securities (48.1 trillion won), public companies (45.4 trillion won), and banks (42.8 trillion won).

Sales of 18 of 20 industries gained on year in the first quarter.

The petrochemical sector’s sales jumped 41.1 percent and IT, electric, and electronics 18.3 percent during the cited period.

The shipbuilding, machinery, and equipment industry, on the other hand, suffered a 2.7 percent decline in first quarter sales from a year ago and telecommunications 1.8 percent amid sluggish industry.

The combined operating income of the surveyed companies increased 5.4 percent on year to 62.3 trillion won in the first quarter.

By sector, IT, electric, and electronics industry raised 21.2 trillion won in operating income in the January-March period.

Samsung Electronics, meanwhile, was the biggest company with sales reaching 77.8 trillion won. Korea Gas Corporation – led by a rise in global natural gas prices – saw 81.3 percent increase in sales at 13.98 trillion won, Meritz Securities with competitiveness in project financing in real estate sector 123.7 percent at 10.8 trillion won. POSCO Holdings also performed well, with sales jumping 32.8 percent to 21 trillion won and SK energy 101.7 percent to 10.4 trillion won in the first quarter.

Samsung Electronics reported 50.5 percent jump in operating income in the January-March period, HMM 208.9 percent, SK hynix 115.9 percent, SK energy 323.3 percent, and POSCO Holdings 45.4 percent.

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