SEOUL, Nov. 25-- Corporate profitability in South Korea worsened in the past four years, with companies selling 1, 000 won (about 1 U.S. dollar) of goods and services and posting only 39 won as net income on average, a government report showed on Tuesday.

The revenue of South Korean companies, excluding finance and insurance firms, totaled 2,257 trillion won (2.03 trillion U.S. dollars) in 2013, up 1.1 percent from a year earlier, according to Statistics Korea. The annual growth rate kept falling from 16.3 percent in 2010 to 12.2 percent in 2011 and 6 percent in 2012.

Net income before deducting corporate tax posted 8.9 trillion won in 2013, continuing to reduce since 2010.

The figures indicated an average 39.2 won net income on revenue of 1,000 won. The ratio of net income before tax to revenue kept falling from 62.3 won in 2010 to 51.7 won in 2011 and 47.2 won in 2012 before declining to 39.2 won in 2013.

The number of companies, which hire more than 50 workers and have over 300 million won in capital, came in at 12,232 in 2013, up 1.8 percent from a year earlier.

The number of service firms, including restaurant, food, real estate, finance and insurance companies, rose more than 10 percent last year, but the figures for builders and manufacturers slid 2.5 percent and 1.2 percent, respectively.