Off the wire
• Cooper Tire to buy Chinese tire producer for $93m  • Urgent: 10 killed, 28 injured in road mishap in S. India  • Urgent: Chinese shares surge over 3 percent  • Dense fog disrupts flights in Indian capital  • Direct flight to link Chengdu, Prague  • 1st LD-Writethru: Chinese shares higher in morning session after roller-coaster ride  • Interview: China playing leading role in Christchurch quake recovery  • Ascott deepens access to Chinese travelers through Alitrip  • Update: S. Korea resumes anti-DPRK propaganda broadcasts as planned  • 1st LD Writethru: S. Korea resumes anti-DPRK propaganda broadcasts as planned  
You are here: 　 Home

Roundup: Samsung's Q4 operating profit falls first in 5 quarters

Xinhua, January 8, 2016 Adjust font size:

Samsung Electronics' fourth-quarter operating profit reduced first in five quarters due to lower prices in chips and display panels, the company said Friday.

Preliminary figure for Samsung's operating profit was 6.1 trillion won (5.1 billion U.S. dollars) during the October-December period, up 15.31 percent from the same period of last year but down 17.46 percent from the previous three-month period.

The operating profit had continued to increase from 4.06 trillion won in the third quarter of 2014 to 7.39 trillion won in the third quarter of 2015, before turning downward in the next quarter.

Revenue came to 53 trillion won in the fourth quarter of last year, up 2.55 percent from three months earlier and up 0.51 percent from a year ago.

Samsung does not unveil its estimates for net income and the breakdown of each business when announcing the preliminary figures. The final results will be made known later this month after an external audit.

The fourth-quarter operating profit missed market expectations of around 6.5 trillion won due to sliding prices in semiconductors and display panels. Smartphone business, which generates about one-third of Samsung's profit, was believed to have struggled in profit improvement.

Samsung's fourth-quarter revenue, however, was almost the same as analysts' consensus of some 53.3 trillion won thanks to strong seasonal demand for TV sets and other consumer electronics.

Peter Lee, an analyst of NH Investment and Securities, estimated Samsung's fourth-quarter operating profit at 3.1 trillion won for chip business, 2.0 trillion won for smartphone division, 0.3 trillion won for display panels and 0.7 trillion won for consumer electronics.

Lee said in a report that Samsung's earnings would be enhanced this year on the back of improved chip business that would offset sluggishness in smartphone sales.

For the whole year of 2015, Samsung's revenue reached 200.34 trillion won, down 2.85 percent from the previous year. However, the revenue surpassed 200 trillion won for four straight years from 2012.

The 2015 operating profit reached 26.37 trillion won, up 5.35 percent from a year earlier. The profit surged from 29.05 trillion won in 2012 to 36.78 trillion won in 2013, but it dropped to 25.03 trillion won in 2014. Enditem