Lagging far behind foreign companies in Korea
The projected dividend yield rate of South Korea's listed firms lags far behind that of foreign companies listed on other advanced and emerging markets, a brokerage said Monday.
South Korea's projected dividend yield rate -- the ratio of dividends per share to the current share price -- was 1.88 percent this year, Daishin Securities said, citing data from Thomson Reuters IBES.
Of 24 advanced and emerging markets, South Korea's rate was ranked 22nd, according to the data.
The data showed that South Korea's listed firms still have a long way to go in improving shareholder value, the brokerage said.
Russia came first with a projected dividend yield rate of 3.81 percent this year.
The average projected dividend yield rate of the 24 markets was 3.23 percent this year, up from 3.02 percent last year.
Kim Sae-chan, an analyst at Daishin Securities, said the level of South Korean firms' dividend payouts is lower this year, although their earnings estimates signal healthier profits.
However, Korean firms' dividend yield rate is likely to grow as the Korean government's policy measures have encouraged them to increase dividend payouts, Kim said. (Yonhap)