South Korea’s top automotive group Hyundai Motor Group is expected to post bigger earnings this year than Samsung Group, the country’s biggest family-controlled conglomerate, data showed Thursday.

The combined earnings of Hyundai Motor Group’s eight listed affiliates are projected to reach 18.05 trillion won ($15.56 billion) this year, compared with 17.75 trillion won of 12 Samsung Group affiliates, according to the data by financial data provider FnGuide.

It will mark the first time that the auto giant’s earnings have surpassed those of Samsung, South Korea’s biggest business group by market cap.

The tally included companies that close their books on Dec. 31, whose earnings forecasts were available.

Hyundai Motor Group is the parent of top carmaker Hyundai Motor Co. as well as leading auto-parts maker Hyundai Mobis Co. Samsung Group has blue chips such as Samsung Electronics Co., the world’s top memory chip maker, under its wing.

The data, however, showed that Samsung Group is likely to remain the top performer in terms of revenue and operating profit.

Samsung’s revenue and operating profit is likely to total 234.26 trillion won and 20.02 trillion won, respectively, compared with 198.94 trillion won and 18.26 trillion won of Hyundai Motor Group. (Yonhap News)

Analysts said the shift in earnings comes amid Samsung’s lagging liquid crystal display business.

“Samsung Electronics’ display panel business is estimated to post a 300 billion won loss this year, marking a turnaround from last year’s 2 trillion won-plus operating profit,” said Kim Seong-in, an IT analyst at Kiwoom Securities Co.

Other analysts said Hyundai Motor’s new line-up and favorable foreign currency conditions helped boost the auto-focused group’s earnings.

“The impact of Hyundai’s new car models and favorable foreign currency bolstered the company’s market dominance,” said Hyundai Securities Co. research head Oh Seong-jin.

The data also showed that LG, SK, and POSCO, which are the country’s third- to fifth- largest conglomerates by market cap, are likely to post earnings worth 3.28 trillion won, 11.55 trillion won and 4.17 trillion won, respectively. 

(Yonhap News)