Combined Market Cap of Korea’s Top 10 Business Groups Drops 35 Trill. Won in 2018

As South Korea's top 10 business groups have seen their stock prices go down this year, the combined market cap of their listed subsidiaries dropped nearly 35 trillion won (US$31.35 billion). In particular, the combined market capitalization of LG Group’s listed affiliates decreased more than 15 trillion won (US$13.43 billion), showing the highest drop among the top 10.

According to the data from financial market data provider FnGuide on September 25, the combined market capitalization of listed companies from the nation’s top 10 biggest business groups, excluding preferred stocks, came to 863.95 trillion won (US$773.8 billion) as of the 20th. The figure fell 34.71 trillion won (US$31.08 billion), or 3.86 percent, from the 898.65 trillion won (US$804.88 billion) at the end of last year. The total market cap of the domestic stock market including the KOSPI and the KOSDAQ dropped 61.27 trillion won (US$54.87 billion) over the same period. The decrease in the market cap of listed companies from the top 10 business groups accounted for 56 percent of the total fall in the market cap of all listed firms.

The market cap of listed companies from LG Group decreased 15.56 trillion won (US$13.94 billion) to 87.82 trillion won (US$78.66 billion) from the 103.38 trillion won (US$92.6 billion) at the end of last year. This was largely due to the fact that the stock prices of the group’s nine subsidiaries, such as LG Chem Ltd., LG Electronics Inc. and LG Display Co., fell.

The market cap of Samsung Group also shrunk 9.93 trillion won (US$8.89 billion) from 475.13 trillion won (US$425.55 billion) to 465.2 trillion won (US$416.66 billion). Samsung Electronics Co. lost 25.63 trillion won (US$22.96 billion) worth of market cap because of concerns over the semiconductor market conditions. On the other hand, the increase in the market cap of some subsidiaries, including Samsung SDI Co. and Samsung SDS Co., offset the decrease in the market cap of Samsung Electronics, while Samsung BioLogics Co. lost more than 10 trillion won (US$8.96 billion) of market cap.
 

In addition, Hyundai Motor Group and Hanwha Group saw their market cap drop 7.64 trillion won (US$6.85 billion) and 5.37 trillion won (US$4.81 billion), respectively. As the stock prices of seven listed companies from Hanwha Group all fell, the group showed the highest decrease in market cap at 30.11 percent among the top 10.

By contrast, the market cap of Hyundai Heavy Industries Group grew 2.91 trillion won (US$2.61 billion), or 17.86 percent. This was because the stock prices of Hyundai Heavy Industries Co. and Hyundai Mipo Dockyard Co. rose with expectations for more orders and higher prices of vessels in the shipbuilding industry.

Doosan Group and GS Group also saw their market cap increase 982.9 billion won (US$880.34 million) and 787.9 billion won (US$705.69 million), respectively, thanks to the improvement in performance of major subsidiaries.