High dividend-paying Korean shares are under fresh limelight in a market on a bull run with the key index above an unprecedented territory.

According to analysis by Korean market data provider FnGuide and securities exchange operator Korea Exchange (KRX) Monday, the number of companies whose average cash dividend-price ratio exceeded 5 percent as of last year reached 21, 1.7 percent of total 1,227 companies listed on the main bourse Kospi (725) and secondary tech-ridden Kosdaq (502). KRX compiled the dividend-price ratio or dividend yield, which is calculated by dividing annual dividends per share by price per share, based on the closing price in the 2016 fiscal year ended December.

The dividend yield of Kospi-listed firms averaged 1.8 percent and Kosdaq-listed ones 1.5 percent last year.

The firm with the highest dividend yield last year was Chunil Express Co., listed on the Kospi, with 8.8 percent. The dividend yield of the bus operator that skipped its annual cash dividend payout in 2014 has topped 8 percent for two years in a row since 2015.

Pureun Savings Bank Co. trailed closely with 8.5 percent, e-LiteCom Co. 8.1 percent, Sungbo Chemicals Co. 7.8 percent, SCD Co. 7.2 percent and S-Oil Corp. 7.3 percent, only conglomerate with the ratio exceeding 5 percent.

Neo Technical System Co. followed with 6.8 percent, UIL Co. 6.7 percent, Koryo Credit Information Co. 6.5 percent, Boo Kook Securities Co. 6.4 percent, SeowonIntech Co. 6.1 percent and Seoho Electric Co. 6.1 percent.

Among the listed subsidiaries of the nation’s top 10 conglomerates, none of them recorded a dividend yield over 5 percent last year. SK Group’s SK Telecom Co.’s dividend yield was the highest at 4.5 percent followed by SK Innovation Co. 4.4 percent. Hyundai Motor Group’s HMC Investment Securities followed with the ratio of 4.2 percent and GS Group’s GS Home Shopping Inc. 4.1 percent.

By Han Ye-kyung

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