Who actually stayed profitable
Studies of profit streaks usually count large companies. This counts every company listed in Korea that filed a net profit in all 5 years — 2,049 of them. The answer is different when you count the whole market.
We can only see 5 years. Our filed-accounts tape covers 2021–2025, so a run longer than that — a hundred straight quarters, say — is outside what we can check. Where a company did not file a net profit in one of these years we left it out entirely (660 companies) rather than reading the gap as a loss. That exclusion cuts one way: a company that listed part-way through, or stopped filing, is not in the count. What is left leans towards companies that were there for the whole run.
Profit alone is a low bar
Being in the black every year is one thing. Growing the profit every year is another. Of the 772 companies that never lost money, 40 also increased net profit in each successive year —2% of everyone we could count. Revenue rose every year at 369 companies.
| Company | Classification | Revenue 2025 | Net profit 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|
| SAMSUNG C&T CORPORATION | Wholesale and commodity brokerage | 40,742 | 3,907 |
| LS ELECTRIC CO., LTD | Electrical equipment | 4,966 | 284 |
| SAMSUNG BIOLOGICS CO.,LTD. | Pharmaceuticals | 4,557 | 1,784 |
| LIG Defense&Aerospace Co., Ltd. | Fabricated metal products | 4,307 | 237 |
| HYUNDAI AUTOEVER CORPORATION. | Publishing | 4,252 | 187 |
| DN AUTOMOTIVE CORPORATION | Electrical equipment | 3,676 | 325 |
| GAON CABLE CO.,LTD | Electrical equipment | 2,546 | 51 |
| Samyang Foods Inc. | Food products | 2,352 | 389 |
| ILJIN ELECTRIC CO.,LTD | Electrical equipment | 2,045 | 104 |
| APR Co., Ltd. | Chemicals and chemical products | 1,527 | 290 |
| NHN KCP Corp. | Financial and insurance services | 1,235 | 46 |
| SILICON 2 Co.,Ltd. | Wholesale and commodity brokerage | 1,116 | 169 |
| HK inno.N Corporation | Pharmaceuticals | 1,063 | 76 |
| MOBASE ELECTRONICS CO.,LTD. | Motor vehicles and trailers | 1,044 | 21 |
| KOREA FUEL-TECH CORPORATION | Motor vehicles and trailers | 786 | 44 |
| SNTEnergy Co.,Ltd. | Other machinery and equipment | 606 | 84 |
| KEPCO Engineering & Construction Company, Inc | Architecture and engineering | 519 | 85 |
| Hugel, Inc. | Pharmaceuticals | 425 | 147 |
| ST PHARM CO., LTD. | Pharmaceuticals | 332 | 55 |
| GAMSUNG Corporation Co., Ltd. | Wholesale and commodity brokerage | 250 | 35 |
| S&S TECH CORPORATION | Electronic components, computers and communications equipment | 244 | 58 |
| VITZROCELL Co.,Ltd. | Electrical equipment | 243 | 57 |
| HY-LOK CORPORATION | Basic metals | 215 | 51 |
| MSC Co.,Ltd. | Food products | 198 | 23 |
| Korea Credit Information CO., LTD. | Facilities management | 178 | 13 |
Amounts in billions of won. Ordered by revenue so the table has a fixed order — this is not a ranking, and appearing here is not a judgement about the company. Showing 25 of 40.
By classification
Share of each classification that was profitable in all 5 years. Listed alphabetically, not ranked. Classifications with fewer than 10 companies are left out because the share swings on one or two firms — 22 of them.