Celltrion Healthcare, an affiliate of major biopharmaceutical firm Celltrion, had the highest average salary among listed firms in South Korea in 2018, data showed on May 7.

The firm, which handles Celltrion’s overseas business, paid its 130 employees an average 241 million won ($206,000) last year, up 78.5 percent from a year earlier, according to corporate tracker FnGuide.

This placed it at the top among all listed firms that released annual reports last year. The jump in the average salary came as Celltrion Healthcare employees exercised their stock options for a big profit.

S-Oil, run by Saudi Aramco, came next with a median salary of 138 million won. Meritz Securities, Bookuk Securities and No. 1 refiner SK Innovation rounded out the top five.

A total of 31 listed companies, including Samsung Electronics and leading mobile carrier SK Telecom, paid their employees more than 100 million won on average last year.

The average salary for Samsung, the world’s largest semiconductor and smartphone manufacturer with a workforce of about 103,000, stood at 119 million won.

By Ram Garikipati and newswires (ram@heraldcorp.com)