Q3 operating income surges for Korea's major companies

The Korea Electric Power Corporation had the biggest gain among state-run firms in this year's third-quarter operating income. [YONHAP]

Korea's major companies saw their third-quarter operating income spike more than 70 percent on-quarter in a sign of a recovery from a severe slump, corporate tracker CEO Score said Wednesday.

The combined operating income of 304 out of Korea's top 500 companies by sales reached 39.7 trillion won ($30.4 billion) in the July to September period, up 70.1 percent from three months earlier.

It was also up 4.8 percent from the same period a year earlier and the largest amount among the last five quarters.

Their total sales expanded 2.5 percent from three months earlier to 683.2 trillion won in the third quarter.

The corporations cover those that have disclosed their quarterly financial statements for the third quarter as of Tuesday.

The third-quarter operating income surge suggests the companies are entering a recovery phase that began in the year's second half.

Stung by a global economic slowdown and tumbling demand for chips, their performances plunged into a downturn in the latter half of 2022 before slowly recovering this year.

Their operating income peaked at 52.4 trillion won in the second quarter of last year before nosediving to 37.9 trillion won in the third quarter and 11.2 trillion won in the fourth quarter.

The figure rose to slightly over 25 trillion won in the first quarter of this year and edged down to 23.3 trillion won in the second quarter.

State-run firms and petrochemical makers posted sharp gains, with IT, electronics and electrical sectors switching to the black. Nine industries suffered setbacks, including shipbuilding and machinery, communications and steelmaking.

Thanks to higher electricity rates and a surge in power demand during the summer, the state-run Korea Electric Power Corporation had the biggest gain, with an operating income of some 2 trillion won in the third quarter, a sharp turnaround from a loss of 2.3 trillion won.

Samsung Electronics registered an operating income of 2.4 trillion won, up a whopping 264 percent from three months earlier.

Kia saw its operating income drop by the widest margin, with the figure coming to 3.4 trillion won, down 15.8 percent from 2.9 trillion won, according to CEO Score.

BY KIM JU-YEON, YONHAP [kim.juyeon2@joongang.co.kr]