South Korea's top 10 conglomerates' unlisted companies pay about half of their net profit as dividends to their shareholders, mostly owners' family members, an analysis showed Thursday.

The dividend payout ratio of 499 unlisted companies affiliated with the conglomerates, known as chaebol here, stood at 41.2 percent over the past two years, according to the analysis by Yonhap News Agency and conglomerate tracker Chaebul.com. The ratio refers to the percentage of income a company spends on its dividends

The unlisted firms paid a combined 95.7 billion won ($86.8 million) as dividends during the period when their net profit came to 232.1 billion won, the analysis showed.

The analysis also found that the average dividend payout ratio of Samsung Group's unlisted firms was 59.2 percent, the highest level among the unlisted firms.

SK Group's unlisted firms took the second place with 55.6 percent, followed by Doosan Group's unlisted firms with 53 percent and GS Group's unlisted companies with 39.9 percent.

Samsung Thales Co., South Korea's largest defense contractor affiliated with Samsung Group, paid 10.2 billion won as dividends in 2011 when its net profit came to only 811 million won. Its dividend payout ratio was 1,268 percent, according to the analysis.

Meanwhile, an unlisted company of Hanwha Group spent 660 million won as dividends, though it posted a net loss of 370 million won, according to the analysis.

The analysis said the number of unlisted companies whose payout ratio stood at more than 100 percent increased to five in 2011 from four in 2010.

The high payout ratios of unlisted companies were in stark contrast to those of listed firms whose payout ratio was 15.2 percent on average, according to the analysis.

The development has drawn public criticism that conglomerates' unlisted firms, which are mostly in control of owners' families, paid hefty dividends to shareholders while conglomerates' listed firms spent less money in dividends. (Yonhap News)