South Korean companies listed on the country’s main Kospi bourse paid out the historic high of 20.9 trillion won ($18.7 billion) in their combined annual cash dividend last year, with the country’s heavyweight Samsung Electronics Co. topping the list.

According to Korean securities exchange operator Korea Exchange (KRX) on Tuesday, 517 companies, or 69.3 percent, of total 746 companies listed on the main Kospi market disclosed cash dividend payments in a regulatory filing in 2016 and their total dividend payout amounted to 20.9 trillion won, up 9.4 percent from a year ago.

Among all, bellwether Samsung Electronics made the largest cash dividend for last year. The electronics behemoth in January declared its largest ever cash dividend of 3.9 trillion won for full 2016 after its semiconductor business delivered record-high profit in the fourth quarter, more than offsetting the loss made from its mobile phone division due to the Galaxy Note7 fiasco.

State-run utility firm Korea Electric Power Corp. that posted record-high operating profits last year thanks to unprecedentedly lengthy hot summer and low oil price came as the second on the list after paying 1.2 trillion won, followed by Hyundai Motor Co. with 810.9 billion won, Shinhan Financial Group with 687.6 billion won and S-Oil Corp. with 663.7 billion won.

It is also the first time ever for the Kospi-listed firms’ year-end cash dividend to surpass 20 trillion won milestone in Korea after it jumped from 11.6 trillion won in 2011 to 15.1 trillion won in 2014, then to 19.1 trillion won in 2015.

Last year’s annual cash dividend paid out by firms listed on the country’s secondary Kosdaq market also hit a record high of 1.2 trillion won.

The combined annual cash dividend of both Kospi- and Kosdaq-listed companies reached 22.2 trillion won, up 10.52 percent from a year ago. But the companies’ common share dividend yield averaged at 1.64 percent, slightly down from 1.74 percent of the previous year.

By Moon Il-ho

[ⓒ Pulse by Maeil Business News Korea & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]