South Korea's top 30 conglomerates saw their combined operating income soar nearly 48 percent on-year in the first half of the year on strong performances by two chip giants, a market tracker said Thursday.

But their total payrolls inched down as the country's three major shipbuilding companies cut a large number of jobs in the wake of last year's huge losses due mainly to plunging orders.

The combined operating income of the leading business groups came to 53.1 trillion won (US$46.6 billion) in the January-June period, up 47.9 percent from the same period a year earlier, according to CEO Score.

The tally covers the groups' 260 subsidiaries, which have unveiled their half-year business reports and offer on-year comparable figures.

The jump was attributed to stellar performances by chip behemoths Samsung Electronics Co. and SK hynix Inc., whose first-half operating profit skyrocketed 104 percent and 478 percent, respectively.

Excluding the two companies, the total operating income of the groups rose 20.5 percent on-year during the six-month period.

Samsung and 19 other business groups reported increased operating profit, while nine conglomerates suffered setbacks. One conglomerate, Booyoung Group, didn't submit a first-half business report.

Despite strong first-half operating income, the combined workforce of the top 30 business groups edged down 0.4 percent to 963,580 as of the end of June.

The slight decrease came as the three shipyards -- Hyundai Heavy Industries Co., Samsung Heavy Industries Co. and Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co. -- eliminated a combined 8,300 jobs to cope with snowballing losses in the first half.

The shipbuilders have been struggling to turn around after going into a tailspin last year due to a tumble in new orders, order cancellations and increased costs. (Yonhap)