Corporate growth slows, but profitability improves in 2025: BOK

The Korea Times

Corporate growth slows, but profitability improves in 2025: BOK

Korean companies reported slower sales growth in 2025 due to a global oversupply of petrochemicals, but their profitability improved on higher semiconductor prices, the central bank said Wednesday. The combined sales of 34,456 companies subject to external audits rose 2.5 percent in 2025 from a year earlier, slowing from a 4.2 percent growth in 2024, according to data from the Bank of Korea (BOK). Sales growth in the manufacturing sector slowed to 3.2 percent from 5.2 percent a year earlier due to sluggish performances in the oil refining and chemical industries amid global structural overcapacity and depressed profit margins. Sales growth among non-manufacturing businesses fell to 1.6 percent from 3 percent over the same period, dragged down by weaker performance among automobile companies affected by U.S. tariff measures. However, profitability indicators improved last year. The operating profit margin of the surveyed companies stood at 6.2 percent last year, up from 5.4 percent a year earlier, marking the highest yearly operating profit margin since 2021, when the figure came to 6.85 p

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