Samsung's operating profit rises 73pc
Sunday, 8 January 2012
SEOUL, Jan 7 (Economic Times): Samsung Electronics, Asia's largest consumer-electronics company, reported a record quarterly profit on surging sales of Galaxy phones and a one-time gain from selling its hard-disk drive business. Operating profit (005930) increased 73 per cent to 5.2 trillion won ($4.5 billion) in the three months that ended in December, the Suwon, South Korea-based company said in a statement Friday. That beat the 4.6 trillion-won average of 29 analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg. Sales rose 12 per cent to 47 trillion won.
Mobile-phone sales surpassed a record 300 million units last year as Galaxy smartphones helped win consumers amid competition with Apple's iPhone. Samsung, which sold its hard-disk drive business to Seagate Technology, is introducing more mobile devices to offset slumping profits at the chip and flat-screen panel businesses.
"The mobile business is generating a huge chunk of profit now," James Song, a Seoul-based analyst at Daewoo Securities, said by telephone. "It may be getting harder for Apple to catch up because they only have a limited number of models." Samsung shares fell 1.4 per cent to 1,040,000 won at the 3pm close of trading in Seoul, while the benchmark Kospi index declined 1.1 per cent.
While smartphone sales helped propel Samsung's revenue to a record last year, fourth-quarter operating profit was inflated by proceeds from the Seagate deal, James Chung, a Seoul-based spokesman for the Suwon, South Korea-based firm, said after the announcement.
Mobile-phone sales surpassed a record 300 million units last year as Galaxy smartphones helped win consumers amid competition with Apple's iPhone. Samsung, which sold its hard-disk drive business to Seagate Technology, is introducing more mobile devices to offset slumping profits at the chip and flat-screen panel businesses.
"The mobile business is generating a huge chunk of profit now," James Song, a Seoul-based analyst at Daewoo Securities, said by telephone. "It may be getting harder for Apple to catch up because they only have a limited number of models." Samsung shares fell 1.4 per cent to 1,040,000 won at the 3pm close of trading in Seoul, while the benchmark Kospi index declined 1.1 per cent.
While smartphone sales helped propel Samsung's revenue to a record last year, fourth-quarter operating profit was inflated by proceeds from the Seagate deal, James Chung, a Seoul-based spokesman for the Suwon, South Korea-based firm, said after the announcement.