Most listed manufacturing firms in South Korea tend to hold or resell treasury shares instead of canceling them in order to help controlling shareholders strengthen their managerial control, a report said Sunday.

According to the report by professor Kim Woo-jin of Seoul National University, treasury share cancellations by listed manufacturing companies came to 174 cases between 2004 and 2015.

The figure accounted for only 2.3 percent of stock buybacks, resales and retirement conducted by all 7,428 manufacturing companies listed on the stock market during the cited period.

Treasury shares refer to those bought back by issuing companies. Their cancellation normally benefits investors as it reduces the number of shares being circulated in the market.

The percentage hovered far below the companies' stock buybacks, which took up 25.6 percent of all the transactions during the period. Their resales of treasury shares amounted to 19.7 percent.