Samsung sales surge
January 25, 2013
Samsung Electronics of South Korea on Friday reported that its net profit rose by a staggering 75.6 percent year-on-year in the fourth quarter of 2012.
The world's largest technology firm by revenue said earnings in the October through December period soared to a record 7.04 trillion won ($6.6 billion, 4.9 billion euros), while net profit for the whole of last year stood at 23.8 trillion won.
The company stated that fourth-quarter growth was mainly driven by solid sales of its flagship Galaxy S3 and Galaxy Note 2 smartphones. Samsung's growth momentum in the sector thus remained ahead of rival Apple.
Cautious outlook
But the South Koreans warned that the furious growth spurt in 2012 would be "pacified" in the current year by intensifying price competition. "In the first quarter, demand for smartphones in developed countries is expected to decelerate," the firm said in a statement.
Samsung also did surprisingly well in the memory chip division despite sluggish global demand towards the end of last year. The company's semiconductor unit posted $8.97 billion in sales between October and December, marking a 10 percent increase in revenue quarter-on-quarter.
"Despite uncertainties in Europe and concerns over the US fiscal cliff we did our best to achieve strong earnings based on high value-added products," remarked investor relations chief Robert Yi.
hg/hc (AFP, dpa)