Market Capitalization Loss
It has been found that the 92 subsidiaries of the top 10 business groups in Korea lost market capitalization of 16 trillion won (US$15.8 billion) during the first half of this year. In particular, the Samsung Group’s loss alone amounted to over 8 trillion won (US$7.9 billion), while each of the Hyundai Heavy Industries, Lotte, POSCO, and Hanwha Groups lost more than 2 trillion won (US$1.97 billion). Meanwhile, the SK and LG Groups’ market caps increased by over 2 trillion won (US$1.97 billion) each.
Financial information provider FnGuide announced on June 30 that the total aggregate market value of the 92 companies affiliated with the 10 conglomerates was 677.5484 trillion won (US$669.5398 billion) as of that day, 18.4917 trillion won (US$18.2726 billion) less than six months ago. The Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) fell 0.45 percent, from 2,011.34 points, during the same period.
The market cap of the Samsung Group declined 2.84 percent from 294.1538 trillion won (US$290.6681 billion) to 285.8143 trillion won (US$282.4274 billion). Samsung Heavy Industries’ plummeted by 28.91 percent, or 2.5396 trillion won (US$2.5096 billion), due to the deteriorating conditions in the shipbuilding industry. Samsung Electro-Mechanics’ and Cheil Industries’ fell 20.14 percent and 20.68 percent as well, respectively. The aggregate market value of Cheil Worldwide decreased by 17.09 percent from 3.1636 trillion won (US$3.1261 billion) to 2.6229 trillion won (US$2.5919 billion) while Samsung Fine Chemicals (-7.63 percent), Samsung Electronics (-3.64 percent), Samsung Techwin (-2.57 percent), and Samsung Life Insurance (-1.92 percent) showed negative growth, too.
That of Hyundai Heavy Industries Group declined from 23.8824 trillion won (US$23.5994 billion) to 17.1691 trillion won (US$16.9656 billion) during the same period due to the same reason. Hyundai Heavy Industries lost 31.13 percent from 1.9532 trillion won (US$1.9295 billion) to 1.3452 trillion won (US$1.3293 billion), and Hyundai Mipo Dockyard and Hyundai Corporation lost 17.70 percent and 0.42 percent, respectively.
The POSCO Group (declined by 2.6233 trillion won or US$2.5914 billion), Hanwha Group (2.4202 trillion won, US$2.3916 billion), Hyundai Motor Group (1.5621 trillion won, US$1.5436 billion), and GS Group (1.3207 trillion won, US$1.3050 billion) showed the same movement. The Hanjin Group’s market capitalization decreased from 4.0834 trillion won (US$4.0350 billion) to 4.0613 trillion won (US$4.0131 billion) in the first half.
In contrast, those of the SK and LG Groups increased by 9.1804 trillion won (US$9.0716 billion) and 2.5486 trillion won (US$2.5183 billion). SK Hynix’s jumped 31.93 percent from 26.1353 trillion won (US$25.8183 billion) to 34.5801 trillion won (US$34.1703 billion) thanks to the DRAM undersupply. SK Network’s market cap went up 42.20 percent from 1.8762 trillion won (US$1.8540 billion) to 2.6680 trillion won (US$2.6364 billion).
In the LG Group, LG Innotek and LG Display benefited from the release of the G3 smartphone of LG Electronics. Particularly, LG Innotek’s aggregate market value skyrocketed by 73.24 percent, from 1.9809 trillion won (US$1.9574 billion) to 3.4317 trillion won (US$3.3910 billion). That of LG Display, which is expected to benefit from the release of Apple’s iPhone 6 in the latter half of the yar, increased by 25.44 percent from 9.0706 trillion won (US$8.9634 billion) to 11.3785 trillion won (US$11.2405 billion).