Revenue for 12,779 manufacturers and 19,253 non-manufacturers subject to external audit, excluding financial firms, fell 2.0 percent in 2023 from a year earlier after advancing 16.9 percent in the previous year, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK).
Sales by manufacturers slumped 2.7 percent on the back of weaker semiconductor demand and lower oil products price, while revenue for non-manufacturers declined 1.2 percent last year.
Corporate profitability worsened. The ratio of operating profit to revenue retreated to 3.8 percent in 2023 from 5.3 percent in the previous year.
The ratio for manufacturers went down from 6.3 percent to 3.2 percent in the cited period, but the reading for non-manufacturers gained from 4.1 percent to 4.4 percent.
The interest coverage ratio, which measures a company's ability to pay interest expenses with operating profit, came to 219.5 percent in 2023, halving from 443.7 percent in the prior year.
It has marked the lowest since relevant data began to be compiled in 2013.
The debt-to-equity ratio for the local companies stood at 102.6 percent last year, down 2.4 percentage points from the previous year.
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