Bank of Korea Releases "Corporate Management Analysis for Q3"
Sales Growth Rate Turns Positive at 2.1%, Signaling Improved Growth
Operating Margin on Sales Rises to 6.1%, Indicating Enhanced Profitability
In the third quarter of this year, both the growth and profitability of domestic companies improved. This was the result of robust exports of high value-added product lines driven by increased global investment in artificial intelligence (AI), as well as rising memory prices.
According to the "Corporate Management Analysis for the Third Quarter of 2025" released by the Bank of Korea on December 17, the sales growth rate, which indicates the growth of domestic corporations subject to external audit, turned positive to 2.1% in the third quarter, up from -0.7% in the previous quarter. The Bank of Korea estimated these results by sampling 4,233 companies out of 26,067 external audit corporations.
By industry, both manufacturing and non-manufacturing sectors saw increases. Manufacturing sales turned positive from -1.7% in the second quarter to 2.9% in the third quarter. The machinery·electronics and electrical sectors led the rise in manufacturing sales, with their growth rate jumping from 2.2% in the previous quarter to 8.9% in the third quarter. Moon Sangyun, head of the Corporate Statistics Team at the Economic Statistics Department 1 of the Bank of Korea, explained, "This is due to strong exports of high value-added product lines such as HBM and DDR5 driven by the expansion of global AI investment," adding that "the increase in memory prices also contributed to the sales growth in the machinery·electronics and electrical sectors."
Non-manufacturing sales rose by 1.2% in the third quarter, accelerating from 0.3% in the previous quarter, mainly led by wholesale and retail, as well as information and communications. Wholesale and retail (2.0%→4.0%) benefited from increased sales at some large e-commerce distribution companies and higher imports of electric vehicles. Information and communications (3.8%→8.8%) saw sales growth thanks to strong performance by digital platform companies.
By company size, both large corporations and small and medium-sized enterprises recorded increases. Large corporations rose from -0.6% in the second quarter to 2.6% in the third quarter, while small and medium-sized enterprises increased from -1.3% to 0.0%.
Profitability also improved. The operating margin on sales, which reflects this, rose to 6.1% in the third quarter of this year, up from 5.8% in the same period last year. By industry, manufacturing jumped from 6.1% to 7.1%. The increase in sales, driven by rising memory prices, reduced the burden of fixed costs, leading to an increase centered on the machinery·electronics and electrical sectors.
In contrast, the non-manufacturing sector fell from 5.4% to 5.0%. Despite an increase in the electricity and gas sector (1.3%→8.7%) due to a decrease in cost of goods sold (wholesale electricity prices) resulting from stable international energy prices, the transportation sector (13.1%→6.6%) struggled due to falling maritime freight rates and decreased sales caused by the postponement of the Chuseok peak season, which had a greater negative impact on the operating margin on sales.
By company size, large corporations (6.0%→6.6%) saw an increase, while small and medium-sized enterprises (4.8%→4.0%) experienced a decline.
Meanwhile, in terms of stability indicators, the debt ratio decreased to 88.8% in the third quarter, down from 89.8% in the previous quarter. The dependence on borrowings also edged down to 26.2%, compared to 26.6% in the second quarter.
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