S. Korean economic slowdown hits Q3 corporate earnings

SEOUL, Sept. 28 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's major listed companies saw the growth of their earnings and sales slow down sharply in the third quarter due to the economic slump, a financial information provider said Sunday.

The combined net profit of the 234 listed companies for which brokerage houses
put out forecasts is estimated to have grown a mere 0.14 percent from a year ago
to 15.4 trillion won (US$13.2 billion) in the July-September period, FnGuide Inc.
said.
The growth rate was far lower than three months earlier. In the second quarter,
the companies' earnings grew 8.4 percent from a year earlier.
FnGuide said the growth of their earnings slowed down sharply because their
foreign exchange losses ballooned due to the weakness of the South Korean
currency. A sharp slowdown in the growth of operating income was also
responsible, it said.
The Korean currency has fallen about 20 percent against the U.S. dollar this
year, increasing local companies' import bills and their debt service costs.
According to FnGuide, their total sales rose 23.7 percent to 219.3 trillion won
in the third quarter, with their combined operating income climbing 8.8 percent
to 18.1 trillion won.
The second-quarter growth rates of their sales and operating income were 33.5
percent and 34.9 percent, respectively.