Kospi-Listed Firms' First-Half Operating Profit Hits 388 Trillion Won... Up 75% Even Excluding Samsung Electronics and SK hynix

Kospi Sales Exceed 2,000 Trillion Won
Strong Performance Driven by Electronics and Medical Devices
Kosdaq Also Achieves Significant Growth

In the first half of this year, sales, operating profit, and net profit of companies listed on the Kospi significantly increased compared to the previous year.

Korea Exchange.

According to the Korea Exchange, Korea Listed Companies Association, and Kosdaq Association on August 19, the combined sales for the first half of this year (on a consolidated basis) for 634 companies with December year-end listed on the main stock market reached 2,000.1261 trillion won, an increase of 28.84% compared to the previous year.

Operating profit came in at 388.1532 trillion won, up 254.15%, and net profit reached 386.674 trillion won, marking a 333.30% increase. The operating margin relative to sales was 19.41% and the net margin was 19.33%, improving by 12.35 percentage points and 13.58 percentage points, respectively, from the previous year.

Excluding Samsung Electronics and SK hynix, which have a large weighting within the Kospi, the combined sales of listed companies rose 15.01% from the previous year, operating profit increased by 75.61%, and net profit climbed by 119.68%.

The combined consolidated sales of Samsung Electronics and SK hynix amounted to 437.27 trillion won, with operating profit at 244.88 trillion won and net profit at 253.12 trillion won.

For a sample of 720 individual listed companies, operating profit in the first half of this year stood at 275.0772 trillion won, up 348.85% from the same period last year.

By sector, operating profit increased in 12 areas such as electrical & electronics (1,186.92%) and medical & precision equipment (133.58%), but decreased in 8 fields, including entertainment & culture (-23.75%) and transportation equipment & parts (-18.66%).

For the financial sector, the consolidated operating profit of 42 companies in the first half of this year amounted to 41.1959 trillion won, a 36.07% increase year-on-year, and net profit stood at 31.9488 trillion won, up 32.82%.

In terms of net profit breakdown: financial holding companies accounted for 16.0362 trillion won, securities for 7.0948 trillion won, insurance for 6.0879 trillion won, and banks for 1.4519 trillion won. The securities sector posted the highest net profit growth rate at 161.00%.

The consolidated debt-to-equity ratio of listed companies on the Kospi stood at 100.81% at the end of June 2026, a decrease of 9.71 percentage points compared to the end of the previous year.

Of the 634 listed companies, 519 (81.86%) posted a net profit, up 34 companies (5.36 percentage points) from 485 (76.50%) the previous year. Meanwhile, loss-making companies totaled 115, down by 34 compared to 149 the previous year.

On the 19th, the KOSPI, KOSDAQ, and KRW/USD exchange rate were displayed in the dealing room at the Hana Bank headquarters in Jung-gu, Seoul. Photo by Jo Yongjun

In the Kosdaq market, the combined sales on a consolidated basis for 1,264 December year-end companies in the first half of the 2026 fiscal year amounted to 183.5753 trillion won, a 27.17% increase from a year earlier.

Operating profit reached 9.4279 trillion won and net profit was 9.7069 trillion won, reflecting increases of 61.54% and 286.95%, respectively. The operating margin and net margin stood at 5.14% and 5.29%, up 1.09 percentage points and 3.55 percentage points from the previous year, respectively.

Based on individual results from 1,587 companies, sales increased by 10.96%, operating profit by 36.98%, and net profit by 240.23% year-on-year.

At the end of the first half of this year, the average debt-to-equity ratio of consolidated reporting companies was 126.04%, up 12.46 percentage points from a year ago.

Among 1,264 companies, 800 (63.29%) recorded a net profit and 464 (36.71%) reported a net loss. Of the 800 profitable companies, 228 turned profitable from a loss in the same period last year, while 572 maintained their profitability. Of the 464 loss-making firms, 107 shifted to a loss from a profit a year earlier, and 357 continued their losses.

By sector, sales increased by 104.81% in distribution and by 27.61% in IT services compared to the prior year, whereas sales in the construction sector declined by 3.45%. Net profit in the distribution sector rose by 142.35%, while general services, textiles & apparel, electrical & electronics, and pharmaceuticals shifted to profitability. However, entertainment & culture and similar sectors saw declines.

Kosdaq 150 Index constituent companies posted sales and operating profit increases of 63.08% and 58.42%, respectively, compared to a year earlier. The sales operating profit margin of Kosdaq 150 Index constituent companies was 7.10%, 2.99 percentage points higher than the 4.11% recorded by non-constituents. For companies included in the Kosdaq Global Segment, sales rose by 6.15%, operating profit by 2.47%, and net profit by 29.96% year-on-year.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.