Corporate profits, debts improve in 2025: BOK

South Korean companies experienced an improvement in profitability and debt levels in 2025, according to data released by the Bank of Korea (BOK). The report analyzed the performance of around 983,000 non-financial firms that undergo external audits. While corporate sales growth decelerated, the overall financial health of these firms showed positive trends.

Sales growth slowed to 2.4 percent in 2025, marking a decline from the previous year's 3.7 percent. This deceleration was observed across both manufacturing and non-manufacturing sectors. In manufacturing, sales grew by 2.4 percent, down from a 4.6 percent increase the year before. Similarly, non-manufacturing sector sales advanced by 2.3 percent, slowing from a 2.9 percent rise in the prior year.

Despite the slowdown in sales, the ratio of local firms' combined operating profits to sales reached 5.2 percent in 2025. This represented an improvement from the previous year's 4.6 percent and marked the highest level since 2021. Furthermore, the average debt-to-equity ratio for these firms decreased to 116.2 percent in 2025, down from 119.9 percent the previous year. This ratio marked the lowest since 2019, indicating a reduction in the firms' overall debt levels relative to their equity.