Revenue among a total of 799,399 non-financial, for-profit corporations, which include 168,869 manufacturers and 630,530 non-manufacturers, shrank 1 percent in 2020 from the previous year, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK).
It marked the first reduction since data began to be compiled in 2010.
The COVID-19 pandemic weakened the offline services sector, such as the wholesale and retail and the eatery and lodging segments, while the online services-related sectors gained ground as people refrained from outside activity.
Revenue of the oil-refining industry tumbled 34.1 percent last year amid cheaper crude oil, but the reading for the electronic, image, communication equipment industry gained 7.0 percent on higher demand for online services.
The ratio of operating profit to revenue for local companies stood unchanged at 4.2 percent in 2020 compared to the prior year.
Companies, which were incapable of repaying interest with operating profit, accounted for 40.9 percent of the total in 2020.
It kept a record-breaking trend for the third consecutive year with 35.2 percent in 2018 and 36.6 percent in 2019.
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