Listed firms' net inches down 1.9 pct in Q1

SEOUL, May 31 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's listed companies and their affiliates saw their earnings slip 1.9 percent on-year in the first quarter due to weak performances by builders and technology firms, a report showed Tuesday. The consolidated net profit of 150 firms listed on the Seoul main bourse stood at 21.8 trillion won (US$20 billion) in the January-March period, compared with 22.2 trillion won a year earlier, according to the report by the Korea Exchange and the Korea Listed Companies Association. The tally was based on the new Korean International Financial Reporting Standards (K-IFRS) that require listed companies to include affiliates' results in their earnings reports. Listed firms whose market capitalization exceeds 2 trillion won are subject to the new accounting rule. The report showed the firms' total revenue increased 19.6 percent on-year to 349 trillion won in the three-month period, and operating profit rose 5.5 percent to 26.9 trillion won. The weaker bottom line came as price falls in IT products dented the earnings of technology companies, according to the report. The combined earnings of technology firms plunged 52.8 percent on-year in the first quarter. Construction firms' earnings nose-dived 53.7 percent from a year earlier due mainly to a continued slump in the local property market. In contrast, automakers and other heavy industry firms saw their earnings jump 42 percent from a year ago, fueled by robust exports of automobiles. Chemical companies' earnings soared 53.3 percent on-year, driven by high oil prices, according to the report.