The Bank of Korea's 2025 corporate financial analysis shows large companies' operating margin at a five-year high and small and mid-sized firms' at the lowest since records began, the Kyunghyang Shinmun reported on the 21st.
According to the Kyunghyang Shinmun, the survey released by the Bank of Korea on the 21st covers 982,767 domestic non-financial for-profit corporations. The overall operating margin on sales last year was 5.2%, up 0.6 percentage point from 4.6% and the highest since 2021 (5.6%).
광고 문의 · 300×250The gap by size was stark. Large firms rose from 3.7% in 2023 to 5.6% in 2024 and 6.7% last year, while small and mid-sized firms slipped from 3.2% to 3.0% and then 2.8%. The gap widened to 3.9 percentage points, and the paper said the small-firm figure is the lowest since the series began in 2009.
Chips and shipbuilding led the way
Manufacturing's margin rose from 5.1% to 6.3%. Electronics, video and communications equipment jumped from 8.3% to 14.0%, mainly on higher sales of high-value semiconductors, and shipbuilding and other transport equipment rose from 6.4% to 11.6% as high-value vessels were booked as revenue. Non-manufacturing edged up only from 4.1% to 4.3%.
Balance-sheet indicators mostly improved: the debt ratio fell to 116.2% from 119.9%, and the interest coverage ratio rose to 292.7%, a third straight year of improvement. But the share of so-called distressed firms, with coverage below 100%, was 42.9%, meaning more than four in ten companies still cannot cover interest from earnings.
The central bank expects this year's record semiconductor boom to widen gaps between large and small firms and among industries. Lee Mi-joo, head of the corporate statistics team, said first- and second-quarter results this year show small firms' profitability indicators also improving, but she did not rule out that the rising share of distressed firms could continue.