[Top 100 Companies Report]⑥ Half of Top 100 Companies' Sales Are Overseas... L&F Earns 99.7% of Revenue Abroad

Overseas Sales Account for 52.5%... Up 23.7% YoY
1 in 2 Companies Earns 50% of Sales Overseas
Samsung Electronics Earns the Most Overseas... KRW 253.5767 Trillion

Last year, more than half of the revenue of the top 100 companies by market capitalization came from overseas. Among the surveyed companies, 4 out of 10 had overseas sales accounting for more than half of their total revenue. The overseas sales of the top 100 companies increased by 22.4% compared to the previous year.

According to Asia Economy's review of the '2022 Business Reports' of the top 100 publicly listed domestic companies by market capitalization as of the end of Q1 this year, the proportion of overseas revenue in the total revenue last year was 52.5%. Twelve companies, including the investment firm Macquarie Infrastructure and those that did not separately disclose domestic and overseas sales, were excluded from this survey.

In 2021, the share of overseas revenue in the total sales of the top 100 companies was 52.5%, an increase of 0.5 percentage points. Last year, the total overseas sales of these companies amounted to KRW 1,052.6941 trillion, up 23.7% from the previous year (KRW 851.0324 trillion). During the same period, domestic sales increased by 21.1%. Only 14 companies saw a decline in overseas sales compared to the previous year.

The total sales of the top 100 companies rose from KRW 1,636.8246 trillion in 2021 to KRW 2,003.6436 trillion last year, an increase of 22.4%. Meanwhile, the combined operating profit was KRW 112.8257 trillion, down 21.6% from KRW 143.9511 trillion in 2021. This is attributed to the global economy, which was in a panic due to COVID-19 two years ago, beginning to recover last year, leading to significant revenue growth for major companies. However, profits declined due to rising raw material prices. Professor Ha Jun-kyung of Hanyang University’s Department of Economics commented, "The global economy was not bad last year."

Among the top 100 companies, 42 had overseas sales accounting for more than 50% of their total revenue, nearly half. Nine companies had an overseas sales ratio exceeding 90%, indicating high export dependence. By industry, five companies in the electrical and electronics sector (LG Energy Solution 94.7%, SK Hynix 97.3%, Samsung SDI 94.2%, Samsung Electro-Mechanics 96%, LG Display 97.4%) accounted for more than half. Following were one pharmaceutical company (Samsung Biologics 94.8%), one IT components company (L&F 99.7%), one distribution company (Celltrion Healthcare 99.6%), and one service company (Krafton 94.4%). The company with the highest share of overseas sales in its revenue was the secondary battery company L&F.

In terms of absolute figures, Samsung Electronics earned the most overseas revenue last year, amounting to KRW 253.5767 trillion. Its total sales were KRW 302.2314 trillion, with overseas sales accounting for 83.9%. Following were Hyundai Motor Company (overseas sales KRW 97.8016 trillion, 68.6%), Kia (KRW 62.0237 trillion, 71.7%), LG Electronics (KRW 50.9245 trillion, 60.1%), and SK Hynix (KRW 43.3958 trillion, 97.3%).

The company with the largest increase in the proportion of overseas sales relative to total sales was SK Bioscience, rising from 25.1% in 2021 to 50.9% in 2022, an increase of 25.8 percentage points. This was largely due to a decrease in domestic sales from KRW 695.6 billion in 2021 to KRW 224.2 billion in 2022, rather than an increase in overseas sales. Next was Netmarble, which increased from 44.9% in 2021 to 62.4% in 2022, a 17.5 percentage point rise. Domestic corporate sales decreased from KRW 1.3816 trillion to KRW 1.0054 trillion, but sales from its Asian subsidiaries increased from KRW 211 billion to KRW 769.8 billion. Samsung Biologics increased by 16.9 percentage points, POSCO Chemical by 15.3 percentage points, and SK IE Technology by 14.4 percentage points.

Fifteen companies had overseas sales accounting for less than 10% of their total revenue. Some companies generated all their sales domestically. Kangwon Land, operating in the domestic tourism industry, had 100% of its sales from domestic sources. Next were GS Retail (0.2%) and KT (0.6%), which had low proportions of overseas sales. Companies in the same industries, such as BGF Retail and E-Mart (distribution), SK Telecom and LG Uplus (telecommunications), did not separately disclose domestic and overseas sales but stated that most of their revenue came from domestic sources.