Roundup: Samsung's Q1 profit stays at record level on smartphone sales
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E-mail Xinhua, April 5, 2013
Samsung Electronics, the world's largest maker of handsets, memory chips, televisions and flat screens, estimated Friday the record level of operating profit for the first quarter after rolling out its new flagship smartphone Galaxy S4.
Samsung estimated the preliminary operating profit at 8.7 trillion won (7.7 billion U.S. dollars) in the January-March period, down 1.6 percent from a previous record high of 8.84 trillion won tallied in the fourth quarter of 2012, but jumping 52. 9 percent from a year earlier.
Sales were estimated at 52 trillion won in the three months ending March 31, down from 56.06 trillion won in the previous quarter, but up 14.9 percent from a year before.
Samsung did not unveil its estimate for net profit and a breakdown of each division. The final results will be announced after auditing and approval of board of directors.
"Sales of TVs and PCs were sluggish in the first quarter due to the off-season reasons, leading to a reduction in sales of display panels," said Lee Sun-tae, an analyst at NH Investment & Securities in Seoul.
The weak sales of TV sets and personal computers were offset by a rise in market share of Samsung's smartphones, Lee said, forecasting the company's second-quarter operating profit would reach a new record high of 10.6 trillion won due to its new flagship smarthone Galaxy S4 launched in mid-March in New York.
Market watchers forecast the new smartphone will sell well as there will be no specific rival when it comes out in the market in April. Samsung's archrival Apple had no plan until now to launch a new model in the near future.
In the first quarter, Samsung was estimated to sell around 70 million smartphones, the record quarterly high in the company's history and posting the top smartphone seller in the world.
Samsung's chip business was expected to see a 17.5 percent on- quarter reduction in operating profit in the first quarter as a rise in DRMA chip prices was relieved by the sluggish demand for such chips during the off-season.
Operating profit in the display panel division was projected to tumble 27.6 percent in the first quarter from the previous quarter as the weak demand for TVs pulled down prices of large-size panels during the quarter. Endi
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