[Graphic News] Donations from big firms up 25.1% despite weaker earnings

Top companies in South Korea boosted their donations in the first nine months of the year despite overall weaker earnings, a corporate tracker said.

CEO Score, which tracks corporate management activities, said 264 out of the country’s top 500 firms by sales donated a combined 1.42 trillion won ($1.09 billion) to charities during the January-September period, up 25.1 percent from a year ago.

CEO Score said the increase came despite the overall lackluster corporate performances during the period.

Hyundai Motor and Kia posted the biggest annual increase in their social contributions.

Hyundai’s donations in the first three quarters amounted to 136.2 billion won, marking a nearly 180 percent increase from the same period last year. Similarly, Kia’s contribution soared 366 percent to 73.6 billion won.

Donations by Samsung Electronics and SK hynix, however, fell by 19.4 percent and 27.3 percent to 179.6 billion won and 41.6 billion won, respectively. (Yonhap)

By Nam Kyung-don(don@heraldcorp.com)