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Biz News Korea(Eng)
Korean listed companies in record dividend binge this year
- Collected
- 2017.11.16
- Distributed
- 2017.11.17
- Source
- Go Direct
According to the Bank of Korea on Thursday, foreign investors received a record $14.1 billion in cash dividends in the January-September period, up 20.5 percent on year. This is also the largest gain since the 53.2 percent annual increase in 2005.
At this pace, the dividend payout to offshore investors would reach an all-time annual high, according to market observers.
Foreign ownership hit a record high this year, making up 34 percent of the market capitalization by holding 651.2 trillion won in Korean equities as of the end of October.
Foreigners earned $9.34 billion in dividends from directly owning large amount of shares, up 12.6 percent from the previous year. Payouts for stocks trusted in institutions also reached $4.75 billion, up 39.9 percent on year.
BOK mainly attributed the increased dividend payout to stellar earnings in Korean bluechip companies.
According to Korea Exchange and Korea Listed Companies Association, 525 companies listed on the country’s main Kospi bourse, excluding financial firms, posted a combined operating profit of 120.5 trillion won ($109 billion) in the first nine months of the year, up 27.7 percent from the year-ago period.
A temporary tax incentive to dividend-paying companies since 2015 that would end this year also encouraged Korean companies to be generous in payouts.
By Kim In-oh and Kim Hyo-jin
[ⓒ Pulse by Maeil Business News Korea & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]