South Korea's top 10 conglomerates saw their units' operating income soar more than 80 percent in the first quarter of the year with their debt service capability improving sharply, data showed Wednesday.

According to the data by conglomerate tracker Chaebul.com, the combined operating income of the leading business groups' 89 nonfinancial subsidiaries jumped 80.1 percent on-year to 17.9 trillion won (US$15.9 billion) in the January-March period.

Top automaker Hyundai Motor Group was the only conglomerate that suffered a setback, with the operating profit of its units tumbling 16.8 percent in the three-month period from a year ago.

Hyundai Heavy Industries Group posted the highest growth rate of 357.6 percent, followed by No. 1 Samsung Group with 202.8 percent, LG Group with 133.1 percent and SK Group with 120.1 percent.

Among Samsung units, global tech giant Samsung Electronics Co. chalked up the highest growth rate of 87.9 percent for the first quarter.

The data also showed that the top 10 groups' interest payments totaled 899.5 billion won in the first quarter, down 7.4 percent from the same period a year earlier.

Among the 10 industrial giants, only Lotte and Hyundai Motor saw their interest expenses rising with an on-year growth rate of 11 percent and 6 percent, respectively.

The average interest coverage ratio of the leading family-controlled conglomerates improved to 19.9 for the first quarter of this year from 10.3 a year earlier.

The ratio, a firm's operating profit divided by its interest costs, measures the company's ability to pay interest on outstanding debt. A reading higher than 1 means the firm earns more than what it has to pay in interest, while a number below 1 means it can't cover its interest with its operating profit.

Samsung Group posted the biggest improvement, with its interest coverage ratio at 40.8 in the first quarter from 11.6 percent a year ago. (Yonhap)

저작권자 © The Korea Post 무단전재 및 재배포 금지