Sales of South Korean listed companies for the first quarter increased for the first time in two years owing to the weak won, falling oil and raw materials prices and restructuring efforts that have helped reduce their overall costs.

According to the analysis from the Korea Exchange and Korea Listed Companies Association on Tuesday, 519 Kospi-listed companies with a fiscal year ending in December reported combined sales of 401.7 trillion won ($339 billion) on a consolidated basis for January-March, up 0.24 percent from the same period last year. Their total operating and net profit surged 13.9 percent and 19.4 percent on-year to 30.2 trillion won and 22.8 trillion won, respectively.

Their combined sales edged up for the first time in two years. After climbing 1.19 percent in the first three months of 2014, their collective sales reversed the course and remained on a downward trajectory for eight consecutive quarters. The biggest drop was 5.78 percent in the first quarter last year.

With improved sales, hopes are rising that their sales may be finally bottoming out. However, some remain cautious saying that it is too premature to have high hopes. Excluding sales of Samsung Electronics Co., combined sales of the rest fell 0.48 percent on-year, indicating that most companies are still seeing their sales remain on the downward trend.

“The increase in sales in the first quarter was mainly driven by the weak won that boosted the value of their earnings, not by an increase in sales volume”, said Lee Kyung-min, an analyst at Daishin Securities Co. “Companies relying on local consumption fared well, but exporters, a main driver of the Korean economic growth, have been doing poor,” he added.

By Noh Hyun

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