All but 2 of Korea`s listed companies struggle in 3Q

Despite weak performances by listed Korean companies due to the global economic slowdown, Samsung Electronics and Hyundai Motor showed good performance in the third quarter.

Hyundai Motor, which aims to achieve a record performance this year, said Thursday, “We recorded 18.95 trillion won (17 billion U.S. dollars) in sales and 1.99 trillion won (1.8 billion dollars) in operating profit in the third quarter this year,” adding, “The number of cars sold increased 9.6 percent to 991,706 year-on-year.”

Though direct comparison with the past is unavailable due to change in accounting standards, this is Hyundai`s second-best quarterly performance after the company posted a record in the first quarter this year.

For the first nine months this year, Hyundai earned 57.28 trillion won (51.51 billion dollars) in sales and 5.95 trillion won (5.35 billion dollars) in operating profit by selling 2,949,914 units, up 18.2 in sales, 27.1 percent in operating profit, and 10.5 percent in the number of cars sold year-on-year.

Hyundai Motor Vice President Lee Won-hee said, “We expect to exceed our goal this year by selling more than 4 million units.”

The company, however, forecast difficult conditions down the road due to the economic slowdown stemming from the European fiscal crisis.

Hyundai also said competition will grow fiercer as Japanese and American companies will step up marketing activities in the fourth quarter. Notably, Japanese players are conducting active marketing campaigns to restore their market shares, which they lost due the massive earthquake in March

In a preliminary announcement of its performance for the third quarter, Samsung Electronics said it achieved a stellar performance. The company will make an official announcement Friday.

Unlike market expectations of a weak Samsung performance due to a slump in the semiconductor market, Korea’s leading electronics manufacturer said the ratio of quarterly operating profit to sales will exceed 10 percent for the first time in its history. Samsung Electronics said sales reached 41 trillion won (37 billion dollars) and operating profit exceeded 4.2 trillion won (3.8 billion dollars).

Samsung Group’s other electricity and electronics affiliates failed to meet expectations, however. Samsung Electro-Mechanics saw operating profit plunge 73.9 percent and net profit fall 67.3 percent year-on-year. Samsung SDI also suffered a 65.3-percent drop in operating profit and a 40.3-percent decrease in net profit.

LG Electronics, LG Display and Hynix Semiconductor also struggled in the third quarter.

In announcing its third-quarter performance Thursday, Hynix said it suffered a deficit for the first time since the second quarter of 2009. The company posted 2.29 trillion won (2.06 billion dollars) in sales and 277 billion won (250 million dollars) in operating loss.

Its sales declined 30 percent from the same period last year and 17 percent from the previous quarter due to a steep fall in the price of DRAMs.

According to the financial data company F & Guide, the majority of the 90 companies that announced their third-quarter performances as of Thursday saw their operating profits decline from the previous quarter.

The slowdown of companies in steel, shipbuilding and finance stood out. Korean Air posted a net loss of 524.3 billion won (471.4 million dollars), and Hyundai Heavy Industries saw operating profit fall 36 percent despite an 11.3-percent increase in sales year-on-year.

Hyundai Steel also suffered a net loss of 127.1 billion won (114.2 million dollars) due to a steep fall in the won’s value.

Other companies that have yet to announce their quarterly performances will be no exception, according to securities companies. Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering and Samsung Heavy Industries are expected to a fall in operating profit, and STX Pan Ocean and Hanjin Heavy Industries will also see a deficit.

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