Samsung Electronics net profits up 16% year on year
Samsung Electronics has reported a net profit in the three months to December 31 of 3.1trillion won (£1.7billion), up 16% year on year.
The South Korean company cited demand for flat screen televisions and higher chip prices as factors towards the rise.
Samsung, which employs almost 165,000 people across the globe, reported its sales increased to 89.77trillion won compared to 72.95trillion in 2008. For Q4 2009, Samsung said it swung to an operating profit of 3.7trillion won from an operating loss of 740million a year earlier. Sales in the last quarter totalled 25.32trillion won – up 37% from 18.5trillion a year earlier.
Samsung forecast strong global sales of pcs and suggested that this will drive chip revenues 10 to 20% higher this year. The company also believes that prices of dram and nand will remain strong, but warned that pc vendors may start to reduce the amount of dram they put in pcs due to higher prices.
