1 in 3 listed firms' Q3 earnings fall short of market expectations

This photo shows Samsung Electronics' office in Seocho District, Seoul, Oct. 31. Yonhap One out of every three Korean companies saw their operating profits fall below market expectations in the third quarter amid poor performances by the chip and rechargeable battery sectors, a report showed Sunday.

As of Thursday, 165 listed companies with earnings forecasts from more than three financial institutions have announced their third-quarter earnings, and 61.82 percent of them failed to meet market forecasts or reported greater operating losses than a year earlier, according to FnGuide, a financial information provider. Those companies that missed market forecasts include tech giant Samsung Electronics, top automaker Hyundai Motor, and major battery makers LG Chem and Samsung SDI.



A total of 57 companies, in particular, logged earnings shocks as their quarterly profit was at least 10 percent below expectations. The combined operating profit of those listed companies came to 50.14 trillion won ($35.

83 billion) in the third quarter, 5.8 percent lower than forecasts. Weak corporate performances led to a slowdown in the country's overall economic growth, as Bank of Korea (BOK) data showed that the gross domestic product expanded 0.

1 percent on-quarter in the July-September period, also falling far short of market expectations of a 0.5 percent expansion. The government and the BOK are widely expected to lower their growth projections for this year.

"Growth in the overall production, consumption and investment aspects has slowed down along with the limited global demand for semiconductors and other key items," said Kim Jin-sung, an analyst from Heungkuk Securities. (Yonhap).