SEOUL, Sept. 17 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's corporate profitability worsened in the second quarter on the global trade dispute and the global chip industry's slump, central bank data showed Tuesday.
The ratio of operating profit to revenue for local companies, subject to external audit, was 5.2 percent in the April-June quarter, down 2.5 percentage points from a year earlier, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK).
The rate of pre-tax net income to revenue declined 2.4 percentage points to 5.3 percent in the cited period.
The lower profitability was attributed to the global trade dispute and the downturn in business cycle in the global semiconductor industry.
The operating profit-to-revenue ratio among manufacturers tumbled to 5.5 percent in the second quarter from 9.5 percent a year earlier, while the ratio for non-manufacturers fell from 5.0 percent to 4.8 percent in the same period.
Operating profits for Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix posted a double-digit reduction in the second quarter from a year ago.
Lower prices for oil products and petrochemicals also contributed to the worsened profitability for manufacturers.
