SEOUL: South Korea's ten leading companies have trimmed their investments by 8.2 percent in the first six months of 2013, data showed Monday, despite the government's efforts to boost corporate investments.
The combined investments by 75 companies affiliated with the country's top 10 business groups reached 36 trillion won or US$32 billion between January and June.
Compared with 39.2 trillion from a year ago, according to data compiled by CEOscore, a website that tracks the country's top 10 conglomerates as well as financial firms and state-run companies, a Yonhap news agency report said Monday.
World's fourth-largest steelmaker POSCO, Hyundai Heavy Industries Group and Hyundai Motor Group increased investments, while seven other conglomerates led by Samsung, SK and LG substantially trimmed their investments.
POSCO increased its investments by 52 percent, though its net profit and operating profit dipped from a year ago.
Five units of POSCO invested a combined 4.4 trillion won during the first half, compared with 2.9 trillion won from a year ago, according to the data.
Hyundai Heavy Industries Group, whose four units invested 1 trillion won, was up 40.1 percent from a year ago.
Hyundai Motor Group, the world's fifth-largest automaking group, invested 4.7 trillion won, up 15.9 percent from a year ago.
Samsung Group, South Korea's largest family-controlled conglomerate, invested 12 trillion won during the cited period, down 27.8 percent from a year ago.
SK Group, South Korea's third-largest conglomerate whose businesses range from mobile communications to oil refinery, cut its investments by 4.1 percent to 4.9 trillion won, the data showed.
LG Group invested 5.6 trillion won in the first six months, down 4.9 percent from a year ago.
LG Group includes LG Electronics Inc., the world's third-largest smartphone maker.
The decline in corporate investments comes as the government tried to encourage companies to invest more as part of its efforts to boost the country's economic growth.
The Korean economy grew 1.1 percent on-quarter in the second quarter, the fastest growth in over two years, aided by fiscal spending, according to the government data. (QNA)
