This file photo shows the buildings of South Korea’s major companies in Seoul. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, Aug. 17 (Korea Bizwire) — Major foreign companies in South Korea achieved robust results last year despite the COVID-19 pandemic, a corporate tracker said.
CEO Score analyzed the financial results of the top 50 companies by revenue among the foreign limited liability companies that submitted audit reports.
The combined revenue of the top 50 foreign companies totaled 21.8 trillion won (US$18.6 billion) last year, up 15 percent from a year ago, with their combined operating profits estimated at 1.27 trillion won, up 42.2 percent year on year.
In stark contrast, the nation’s top 500 companies saw their combined revenue fall by 0.2 percent last year, with their combined operating profits growing by only 5.4 percent.
Leading the charge was Tesla Korea Ltd., the Korean unit of the U.S. electric vehicle maker Tesla Inc., which saw sales jump by 295.9 percent to 716.2 billion won, with operating profits estimated at 10.8 billion won, up 429.9 percent year on year.
Netflix Services Korea Ltd., the local unit of Netflix, also saw its revenue surge by 123.5 percent to 415.5 billion won and operating profits by 295.3 percent to 8.8 billion won.
In the meantime, the foreign companies saw the ratio of investment to revenue slip to 2.8 percent last year from 3.1 percent a year ago, with the ratio of donations to revenue remaining unchanged at 0.04 percent.
M. H. Lee (mhlee@koreabizwire.com)
