S. Korea’s corporate revenue keeps growing in Q2

SEOUL, Sept. 11 (Xinhua) — South Korea’s corporate revenue kept growing in the second quarter thanks to solid global demand for locally-made semiconductors, central bank data showed Wednesday.
Revenue for 11,651 manufacturers and 11,486 non-manufacturers subject to external audit, excluding financial firms, increased 5.3 percent in the April-June quarter from a year earlier after growing 1.2 percent in the previous quarter, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK).
Sales by manufacturers gained 7.3 percent in the second quarter, faster than an expansion of 3.3 percent in the first quarter.
Revenue in the machinery, electrical and electronic sector, including chipmakers, surged 20.7 percent in the second quarter, with those in the petrochemical and the transport equipment sectors rising in single digits.
Revenue for non-manufacturers climbed 2.6 percent in the second quarter, marking the first rebound in five quarters.
Corporate profitability gained ground. The ratio of operating profit to revenue for the companies rose to 6.2 percent in the second quarter from 3.6 percent in the same quarter of last year.
The ratio for manufacturers advanced to 7.1 percent in the second quarter from 2.9 percent a year earlier, while the figure for non-manufacturers went up from 4.6 percent to 5.1 percent.
The debt-to-equity ratio for the companies came to 88.9 percent in the second quarter, down from 92.1 percent in the previous quarter. ■