WINNERS & LOSERS

• Published Jun 2, 2013 7:50 PM KST
• Updated Jun 2, 2013 7:50 PM KST

LSIS

, a leading Korean electric power systems maker, announced Thursday that it has won a 40-billion-won ($35.5 million) solar power plant construction contract in Japan. Under the contract with Japan Renewable Energy, an energy development firm run by U.S. investment bank Goldman Sachs, LSIS will provide equipment including solar power modules and transformers for a new solar power plant in Mito, northeast of Tokyo. A manager at LSIS said it aims to win more deals in Japan, where the solar power industry is rapidly expanding after the Fukushima nuclear crisis in 2011.

The first quarter sales of

Kwang Dong Pharmaceutical

, a local company, have increased 33.2 percent year-on-year, mainly thanks to the popularity of its newly-acquired mineral water brand “Samdasoo.” The company reported Wednesday it has earned about 23.7 billion won by selling more than 53 million bottles of Samdasoo, which account for 24 percent of a total of 98.9 billion won of sales in the first three months of this year. Global credit rating agency Standard and Poors Thursday downgraded the rating outlook of POSCO, one of the world’s top steel manufacturers, to “negative,” citing the firm’s increasing debt and uncertainty in the global steel industry.

BGF Retail

, operator of local convenient store chain CU, made a public apology Thursday regarding recent incidents in which three owners of its member stores committed suicide, blaming excessive pressure from the franchisor and economic distress. The company also admitted it previously manipulated the victims’ death certificates and put out a news release that they died of a chronic disease, not suicide.