Cash Reserved
The Financial Supervisory Service announced on April 26 that the cash and cash equivalents of the KOSPI-listed subsidiaries of the four largest business groups in South Korea increased from 143.1180 trillion won to 171.4392 trillion won between the end of 2015 and the end of last year.
The total increased by 26.4% to 106.4809 trillion won in the Samsung Group. Samsung Electronics’ cash and cash equivalents increased by 26.4% to 84.5438 trillion won and those of Samsung C&T rose 76.2%. Meanwhile, those of Samsung SDI fell 17.4% to 2.0585 trillion won, Samsung Heavy Industries 17.2% to 1.7706 trillion won and Samsung Electro-Mechanics 1.8% to 1.1084 trillion won.
The Hyundai Motor Group increased its cash and cash equivalents by 16.7% to 35.0107 trillion won. Kia Motors’ showed an increase of 64.5% to 6.5465 trillion won whereas Hyundai Steel’s decreased by 10.2% to 906.1 billion won.
When it comes to the SK Group, the total edged up by 2.1% to 20.8303 trillion won. SK Innovation’s rose 21.6% to 5.6684 trillion won and SKC’s jumped by 114.3% unlike those of SK Networks (down 37.9% to 706.7 billion won), SK Chemical (down 32.3% to 647.6 billion won), SK D&D (down 31.6% to 71 billion won), SK Gas (down 15% to 265.6 billion won) and SK Hynix (down 13.7% to 4.7913 trillion won).
The LG Group’s cash and cash equivalents increased 7.5% to 9.1173 trillion won. LG Display’s increased 107.4% to 1.5587 trillion won on the contrary to the five subsidiaries including LG Chem (down 13.5% to 1.4744 trillion won).
“The increase in their cash and cash equivalents implies that they have become more passive about investment,” said an industry source, adding, “This trend is likely to continue for a while due to domestic and global economic uncertainties and so on.”