Korea's major conglomerates increased their investment and hiring in the first half of the year despite signs of a deepening economic slump, data showed Sunday.
Capital expenditures by the 83 listed affiliates belonging to the country's top 10 family-run conglomerates, known here as chaebol, surged 15.1 percent on-year to 40.7 trillion won (US$35.9 billion) in the January-June period, according to the data by conglomerate tracker Chaebol.dot.com.
Their spending on new plants and equipment surged 16.5 percent from a year earlier to 29.2 trillion won during that period, with investment in research and development climbing 11.6 percent on-year.
Samsung Group, the nation's top conglomerate that has tech powerhouse Samsung Electronics Co. under its wing, spent a hefty 21.58 trillion won, up 19.5 percent from a year earlier and the largest among the conglomerates.
Samsung Electronics, the world's top smartphone and computer memory-chip maker, invested as much as 19.73 trillion won, or 64.6 percent of the group's total capital expenditures.
LG Group came second by spending 7.4 trillion won in the first half, which represents a 9.4 percent increase from the same period last year.
Capital spending by SK Group, which owns top mobile carrier SK Telecom Co., rose 9 percent on-year to 5 trillion won with investment by top automaking group Hyundai Motor Group jumping 21 percent to slightly over 4 trillion won.
The data also showed the major conglomerates recruited 557,000 workers in the six-month period, up 3 percent from the same period a year earlier.
Despite their increased capital spending and hiring, most conglomerates saw their earnings shrink or their losses widen in the first half due to the fallout of a global economic slowdown, though profits of Samsung and Hyundai surged.
The combined net income of the top 10 conglomerates inched up 0.2 percent on-year to 21.6 trillion won.
In contrast, Samsung's net profit spiked 48.3 percent on-year to 9.5 trillion won in the first half, with Hyundai's bottom line increasing 19.7 percent to 7.2 trillion won, according to the data. (Yonhap)