Samsung profits down 72%
Samsung Electronics has announced its first quarter net profit fell 72% year on year.
Affected by the economic slump and poor demand for memory chips and flat screen televisions, the South Korean company's net profit for January to March was 619billion won compared to 2.19trillion won a year earlier.
Quarterly sales rose 8.5% to 18.57trillion won from 17.11trillion won a year earlier.
A press release from Samsung stated that market conditions were improving as semiconductor prices stabilised. Robert Yi, Samsung's head of investor relations, said: "The global economy is likely to continue to recover in the second quarter but lingering uncertainty means it is difficult to predict a sharp improvement in demand or the business environment in the near term."
