According to a local trading house, non-financial listed companies in South Korea will likely see their total operating income increase roughly 10% this year due to increased sales.
Hanwha Investment & Securities Co. predicted that the combined operational income of companies listed on the main stock market will increase 9.6% year on year to 208 trillion won ($163 billion) this year in its latest research.
Hanwha Investment & Securities predicated its optimistic prognosis on key firms’ strong January-March quarter results.
Sales were 3.6 percent higher than the market consensus in the first quarter, and operating income was 9.6 percent higher than the median projection.
Despite rising oil and other raw materials costs, those listed companies appear to have lowered their cost burdens at a faster rate than predicted, according to the brokerage house.
The entire operational revenue of those listed companies, excluding the state-run power monopoly Korea Electric Power Corp. (KEPCO), is expected to rise 15% year on year to 226 trillion won.
As power rates remain frozen amid rising energy prices, the market consensus for KEPCO’s operating loss in 2022 has grown to 17.5 trillion won from 6.2 trillion won expected at the start of the year.
According to Hanwha Investment & Securities, in the first quarter of this year, the state electricity firm took on the cost burden of major companies amid growing inflation, which helped boost their sales.