Samsung and two other leading family-controlled conglomerates in South Korea accounted for a big chunk of listed firms' first-half earnings, data showed Monday, pointing to a growing concentration of corporate income in a few titans.

According to the data by the Korea Exchange, 29 listed units of Samsung, LG and SK groups posted a combined net income of 35.61 trillion won ($31.2 billion) in the January-June period, up a whopping 90.3 percent from the same period a year earlier.

The amount took up 58.7 percent of the 60.69 trillion won net income registered by 533 non-financial companies traded on the main stock market, up from 38.3 percent a year earlier. The firms close their books in December.

The data also showed 63 listed affiliates of the nation's top 10 conglomerates reported a combined net profit of 45.99 billion won during the six-month period, up 45.8 percent from a year ago.

The figure accounted for 75.8 percent of all listed firms' first-half earnings, compared with 64.7 percent during the same period a year earlier.

Excluding the units of Samsung, LG and SK groups, the total net income of the listed firms sank 16.6 percent on-year to 25.08 trillion won, according to the data.

Samsung, whose flagship is global tech giant Samsung Electronics Co., is South Korea's top conglomerate by assets. SK is the third-largest business group and LG, the fourth largest.

Analysts said such a concentration of corporate earnings in a few large companies is not desirable, stressing the need to change the nation's economic structure into one where small and medium enterprises play a greater role. (Yonhap)