South Korean companies delivered lower gross profits over the past five years despite a revenue increase mainly because operating costs outgrew sales, government data showed on Friday.

Annual sales totaled 5,311 trillion won ($466 billion) in 2015, up 979 trillion won or 22.6 percent from 2010, but operating profits fell by 11 trillion won to 349 trillion won. Specifically, operating costs jumped 24.9 percent to 496.2 trillion won, outpacing the 22.6 percent growth in sales during the five-year period, according to the data released by Statistics Korea.

The number of business entities across the country totaled 3,874,000 at the end of 2015, up 520,000 or 15.5 percent from 2010. The most common business was wholesale and retail business (1,015,000, 26.2 percent), followed by lodging and food services (711,000, 18.3 percent) and manufacturing (414,000, 10.7 percent).

The number of employees totaled 20,890,000 persons, up 3,240,000 or 18.4 percent from five years ago.

By Kim Gyu-sik

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