Korea April-June 2026 earnings: memory and shipbuilding carry the market

Korean coverage closed the April-June 2026 quarter. Updated on 4 September: all 22 issuers are now taken from consolidated statements filed on DART – the three-month column of the report itself, with a link to the filing on every row of the card. Median revenue growth is 19%, EBITDA 24%, net profit 16%. Two sectors carried the market, and both grew by multiples rather than percentages: memory semiconductors and shipbuilding.

- Samsung Electronics: quarterly profit of 71.3 trillion won, fourteen times last year's; net margin up 35 points to 42%.

- SK hynix: revenue 79.3 trillion won (+257%), net profit 93.8 trillion – above revenue. That is how the filing reads: 65.9 trillion won of financial income in the quarter. On 2 September we treated it as a data error and left the company out; that was wrong, the figure is from the filing.

- Shipbuilding grew by multiples: Hanwha Ocean +367% profit, HD Hyundai Heavy Industries +290%.

- POSCO Holdings: profit to owners 685 billion won, +328%. Aggregators showed +127% because their base included non-controlling interests.

- Telecom lagged: KT Corporation -36% profit, trading at 3.5x EBITDA.

- Autos slipped: Hyundai Motor -16% profit at a 5.1% margin.

Transport, autos and defence

Hanwha Ocean - revenue 5443 bn won (+65%), EBITDA 805 (+208%), net profit 693 (+367%). Net margin 13%, +8pp; 14.7x ebitda; net debt 2.2x.

HD Hyundai Heavy Industries - revenue 6332 bn won (+53%), EBITDA 1142 (+194%), net profit 822 (+290%). Net margin 13%, +8pp; 11.2x ebitda; net cash.

Hanwha Aerospace - revenue 9293 bn won (+47%), EBITDA 1609 (+108%), net profit 636 (+253%). Net margin 7%, +4pp; 13.0x ebitda; net debt 1.7x.

Hyundai Mobis - revenue 16325 bn won (+2%), EBITDA 1301 (-22%), net profit 1059 (+14%). Net margin 6%, +1pp; 5.7x ebitda; net cash.

Samsung Heavy Industries - revenue 3231 bn won (+20%), EBITDA 388 (+21%), net profit 224 (+5%). Net margin 7%, -1pp; 16.5x ebitda; net debt 0.5x.

Kia - revenue 33037 bn won (+13%), EBITDA 3421 (-7%), net profit 2328 (+3%). Net margin 7%, -1pp; 2.8x ebitda; net cash.

Hyundai Rotem - revenue 1606 bn won (+13%), EBITDA 249 (-7%), net profit 185 (-3%). Net margin 12%, -2pp; 10.0x ebitda; net cash.

HMM - revenue 3402 bn won (+30%), EBITDA 709 (-14%), net profit 411 (-13%). Net margin 12%, -6pp; 8.3x ebitda; net debt 1.3x.

Hyundai Motor - revenue 49215 bn won (+2%), EBITDA 4070 (-30%), net profit 2521 (-16%). Net margin 5%, -1pp; 15.3x ebitda; net debt 10.1x.

Technology and telecom

Samsung Electronics - revenue 171499 bn won (+130%), EBITDA 102500 (+399%), net profit 71269 (14x). Net margin 42%, +35pp; 6.5x ebitda; net cash.

SK hynix - revenue 79319 bn won (+257%), EBITDA 64573 (5x), net profit 93820 (13x). Net margin 118%, +87pp; 7.9x ebitda; net debt -0.0x.

Samsung Electro-Mechanics - revenue 3457 bn won (+24%), EBITDA 696 (+64%), net profit 316 (+143%). Net margin 9%, +4pp; 42.4x ebitda; net cash.

Hanwha Systems - revenue 1118 bn won (+46%), EBITDA 149 (+31%), net profit 67.1 (+66%). Net margin 6%, +1pp; net debt 7.3x.

KT Corporation - revenue 6680 bn won (-10%), EBITDA 1586 (-20%), net profit 440 (-36%). Net margin 7%, -3pp; 3.5x ebitda; net debt 1.4x.

LG Display - revenue 5612 bn won (+0%), EBITDA 872 (-63%), net profit -405 (to a loss). Net margin -7%, -23pp; 3.7x ebitda; net debt 2.4x.

Chemicals and materials

Samsung SDI - revenue 3769 bn won (+18%), EBITDA 695 (+179%), net profit 342 (back to profit). Net margin 9%, +14pp; 28.2x ebitda; net debt 5.7x.

LG Chem - revenue 14176 bn won (+19%), EBITDA 2177 (+53%), net profit 113 (back to profit). Net margin 1%, +4pp; 10.5x ebitda; net debt 6.1x.

Banks and finance

Shinhan Financial Group - revenue 4674 bn won (-1%), net profit 1847 (+17%). Net margin 40%, +6pp; 9.6x earnings.

KB Financial Group - revenue 4602 bn won (-15%), net profit 1992 (+15%). Net margin 43%, +11pp; 9.6x earnings.

Metals and mining

POSCO Holdings - revenue 19259 bn won (+10%), EBITDA 1908 (+18%), net profit 685 (+328%). Net margin 4%, +3pp; 7.7x ebitda; net debt 3.7x.

Oil and gas

S-Oil - revenue 11343 bn won (+41%), EBITDA 1178 (back to profit), net profit 515 (back to profit). Net margin 4%, +5pp; 6.4x ebitda; net debt 2.0x.

Consumer

LG Electronics - revenue 23826 bn won (+15%), EBITDA 2450 (+36%), net profit 668 (+10%). Net margin 3%; 5.4x ebitda; net debt 0.6x.

What changed since the 2 September review

Source. On 2 September the figures came from yfinance and stockanalysis, and for all 22 issuers the base and the latest period came from different feeds, so Korea was kept out of cross-market medians. Every row since 2023 is now read from the report on DART, growth is comparable for all 22, and Korea enters the medians.

What moved. Medians: revenue 19% (was 19%), net profit 16% (was 17%) – now across 22 companies rather than 17. POSCO Holdings: profit +328% instead of +127%. Shinhan Financial: profit 1,847 billion, +17% instead of +20%. LG Chem: revenue +19% instead of +24% (the prior quarter was restated in the 2025 report). SK hynix is back in the review.

Multiples are recomputed on debt from the filings including bonds and leases: Hyundai Motor 15.3x EBITDA with net debt at 10x EBITDA (the carmaker's debt includes its finance arm), HMM 8.3x, LG Chem 10.5x, Samsung Heavy 16.5x, HD Hyundai Heavy 11.2x, Hyundai Mobis 5.7x, POSCO 7.7x.

What did not move. Kia, Hyundai Motor, KT, LG Display, Samsung SDI, S-Oil, LG Electronics, Samsung Electro-Mechanics, KB Financial, Hyundai Rotem, HMM, Samsung Heavy, HD Hyundai Heavy: revenue, profit and growth matched the filings within a percent.

A note on the Korean data

Every row of the Korean cards is read from the issuers' consolidated statements on DART: quarters from the three-month column, the year from the annual report, the fourth quarter as the year less nine months. Profit is the share attributable to owners of the parent. Where an issuer restated a prior period in the following report, the restatement is used and the original figure is kept in the row's note.