South Korea’s two biggest companies ― Samsung Electronics and Hyundai Motor ― accounted for nearly 20 percent of the combined net income of local firms last year, data showed Monday, in the latest sign of the concentrated wealth of a few major exporters.

The combined sales of the nation’s top 10 conglomerates came to 1.07 quadrillion won ($974 billion) in 2013 to represent 24.8 percent of the total sales by 517,000 firms, while the ratio of their net earnings fell to 41.9 percent of the total, according to Chaebul.com, which tracks corporate practices.

Bucking the trend, Samsung Electronics, the world’s top handset maker, and Hyundai Motor, the world’s fifth-largest automotive group, generated more sales and net income in 2013 to increase their ratio compared to the previous year.

The combined sales of the two firms reached 200.1 trillion won last year to account for 4.6 percent of the total sales by Korean companies, up from 184.4 trillion won in the previous year, data showed.

Their net income also rose to 23.1 trillion won in 2013, accounting for 19.9 percent of the total net by local firms, they noted.

Market watchers raised concern over a handful of leading exporters’ heavier influence on the national economy, calling for measures to raise the overall competitiveness of South Korean firms to pursue balanced growth in different sectors. (Yonhap)