As of the end of March this year, 47 South Korean listed firms held more than 1 trillion won (US$930.23 million) of cash.
Market researcher Chaebol.com said on May 28 that it analyzed the financial statements of 2,194 listed firms in South Korea until the end of March this year. According to the data, there were 47 companies that had over 1 trillion won (US$930.23 million) of cash, including Samsung Electronics Co. and Hyundai Motor Co.
The combined amount of cash held by the 47 firms came to 158.94 trillion won (US$147.85 billion), up 11.56 trillion won (US$10.76 billion), or 7.8 percent from a year earlier. By company, Samsung Electronics had the highest cash holdings at 32.3 trillion won (US$30.05 billion). The figure increased 4.7 trillion won (US$4.37 billion), or 17.2 percent, from the same period last year.
Hana Financial Group Inc. ranked second at 9.98 trillion won (US$9.28 billion), up 9.3 percent from a year ago, followed by Hyundai Motor at 8.39 trillion won (US$7.81 billion), up 28.5 percent over the same period.
Samsung Group had the largest number of affiliates that had more than 1 trillion won (US$930.23 million) of cash. A total of five Samsung Group’s affiliates held over 1 trillion won (US$930.23 million) of cash – Samsung Electronics, Samsung C&T Corp. with 3.03 trillion won (US$2.82 billion), Samsung Life Insurance Co. with 2.13 trillion won (US$1.98 billion), Samsung Securities Co. with 1.11 trillion won (US$1.03 billion) and Samsung SDI Co. with 1.02 trillion won (US$946.79 million).
Hyundai Motor Group, SK Group, LG Group had four affiliates that owned more than 1 trillion won (US$930.23 million) of cash. There were Hyundai Motor, Hyundai Mobis Co., Kia Motors Corp. and Hyundai Engineering and Construction Co. under Hyundai Motor Group, SK Corp., SK Hynix Inc., SK Innovation Co. and SK Telecom Co. under SK Group, and LG Electronics Inc., LG Chem Ltd., LG Display Co. and LG Corp. under LG Group.
Lotte Holdings Co. had the highest increase of cash holdings for the past year. Its cash holdings grew a whopping 565.8 percent from 170.3 billion won (US$158.42 million) at the end of March in 2017 to 1.13 trillion won (US$1.05 billion) at the end of March in 2018.
In addition, Netmarble Corp. saw its cash holdings increase as much as 386.9 percent from 359.7 billion won (US$334.6 million) to 1.75 trillion won (US$1.63 billion) over the same period, while Kakao Corp. showed a 190.7 percent growth in its cash holdings from 618.5 billion won (US$575.35 million) to 1.8 trillion won (US$1.67 billion).
By contrast, the cash holdings of Woori Bank Co. decreased 28.1 percent from 7.98 trillion won (US$7.43 billion) to 5.74 trillion won (US$5.34 billion) at the end of March this year. Lotte Shopping Co. also showed a 27.9 percent decrease in cash holdings, while Mirae Asset Daewoo Co. saw its cash holdings drop 26.2 percent.
The situation is very much the same with Hyundai Mobis and Hanhwa. The cash holdings of Hyundai Mobis reduced 17.8 percent from 3.36 trillion won (US$3.13 billion) at the first quarter last year to 2.76 trillion won (US$2.57 billion) at the first quarter this year. Hanwha Corp. held 2.64 trillion won (US$2.45 billion) of cash until the end of the first quarter this year. The figure was down 18.2 percent from the same period a year ago.
The cash holdings of LG Chem nearly doubled from 1.49 trillion won (US$1.39 billion) at the first quarter in 2017 to 2.92 trillion won (US$2.71 billion) at the first quarter in 2018. The figure increased 95.5 percent from a year earlier.