'Big Four' Chaebol Stocks Recover Pre-Crisis Values
The market capitalization of the nation's "Big Four" business conglomerates has recovered to their values before the Lehman Brothers collapsed, industry officials said yesterday.
According to FnGuide, a stock market research firm, the market cap for LG Group stood at 62.34 trillion won ($49.38 billlion) on Friday, up by 18.81 percent from 52.47 trillion won at the end of August, before Lehman Bros. went bankrupt.
Following the nation's fourth largest business conglomerate (in terms of total assets) was Samsung Group, the largest Korean conglomerate, whose market capitalization jumped by 12.21 percent from 129.2 trillion won to 145 trillion won over the same period.
Hyundai-Kia Automotive Group and SK Group, the second and third largest business groups of the country, respectively, have also more than recovered their pre-Lehman market capitalizations. Hyundai-Kia's market capitalization soared by 9.68 percent from 37.29 trillion won to 40.89 trillion won, while that of SK Group has increased by 4.14 percent to 40.79 trillion won from 39.17 trillion won.
"Part of the reason for such quick recovery is they have improved competitiveness through each of their own preemptive restructuring processes followed by the Asian financial crisis of 1990s," Kim Se-joon, an economist at Shinyoung Securities, said in a recent report.
Financial analysts note that Samsung, LG and Hyundai-Kia groups incorporate export-oriented companies: Samsung Electronics, LG Electronics and Hyundai Motor/Kia Motors. Over time, market capitalization of the three companies have gone up by 20.69 percent, 13.18 percent and 1.02 percent, respectively, as they reaped increased benefits in currency gains during the course of last year's steep surge in the won-dollar exchange rate.
"Share prices have risen much this year for export oriented companies with strong global competitiveness," Lee Kwang-hoon, an analyst at Goodmorning Shinhan Securities, said in the report.
Airline companies and shipyards, which have been hit severely under the global economic slowdown, however, are struggling at stock markets as well.
The market capitalization for Kumho-Asiana Group, which owns Asiana Airlines, went down by 12.08 percent, while that for the country's largest shipbuilder Hyundai Heavy Industries decreased by 13.31 percent. POSCO has lost 8.27 percent from its pre-Lehman level, while Hanjin Group, which operates Korean Air, has lost 17.13 percent.
Analysts, however, predict that it will not take very long for both POSCO and Hyundai Heavy Industries to recover their share-price losses once the global economy recovers, since the two have the top technologies in their industries.
(danlee@heraldm.com)
By Lee Yong-sung
quoted from: The Korea Herald
According to FnGuide, a stock market research firm, the market cap for LG Group stood at 62.34 trillion won ($49.38 billlion) on Friday, up by 18.81 percent from 52.47 trillion won at the end of August, before Lehman Bros. went bankrupt.
Following the nation's fourth largest business conglomerate (in terms of total assets) was Samsung Group, the largest Korean conglomerate, whose market capitalization jumped by 12.21 percent from 129.2 trillion won to 145 trillion won over the same period.
Hyundai-Kia Automotive Group and SK Group, the second and third largest business groups of the country, respectively, have also more than recovered their pre-Lehman market capitalizations. Hyundai-Kia's market capitalization soared by 9.68 percent from 37.29 trillion won to 40.89 trillion won, while that of SK Group has increased by 4.14 percent to 40.79 trillion won from 39.17 trillion won.
"Part of the reason for such quick recovery is they have improved competitiveness through each of their own preemptive restructuring processes followed by the Asian financial crisis of 1990s," Kim Se-joon, an economist at Shinyoung Securities, said in a recent report.
Financial analysts note that Samsung, LG and Hyundai-Kia groups incorporate export-oriented companies: Samsung Electronics, LG Electronics and Hyundai Motor/Kia Motors. Over time, market capitalization of the three companies have gone up by 20.69 percent, 13.18 percent and 1.02 percent, respectively, as they reaped increased benefits in currency gains during the course of last year's steep surge in the won-dollar exchange rate.
"Share prices have risen much this year for export oriented companies with strong global competitiveness," Lee Kwang-hoon, an analyst at Goodmorning Shinhan Securities, said in the report.
Airline companies and shipyards, which have been hit severely under the global economic slowdown, however, are struggling at stock markets as well.
The market capitalization for Kumho-Asiana Group, which owns Asiana Airlines, went down by 12.08 percent, while that for the country's largest shipbuilder Hyundai Heavy Industries decreased by 13.31 percent. POSCO has lost 8.27 percent from its pre-Lehman level, while Hanjin Group, which operates Korean Air, has lost 17.13 percent.
Analysts, however, predict that it will not take very long for both POSCO and Hyundai Heavy Industries to recover their share-price losses once the global economy recovers, since the two have the top technologies in their industries.
(danlee@heraldm.com)
By Lee Yong-sung
quoted from: The Korea Herald
