[Aju News DB]
Samsung Electronics Thursday presented a conservative outlook for its performance this year as it posted a sharp drop in fourth-quarter profit with sales undercut by slowing economic growth in China and weaker emerging market currencies.
The tech giant said in a statement that challenging business conditions such as a global economic slump and weakening demand for computers and smartphones would remain throughout the first half of this year.
The maker of Galaxy smartphones said its October-December net profit fell 39.7 percent from a year ago to 3.22 trillion won (2.68 billion US dollars).
Fourth-quarter revenue rose 1.1 percent to 53.3 trillion won, and operating profit up 16.1 percent to 6.1 trillion won, matching its guidance report released earlier this month.
Samsung's full-year net profit was down 18.5 percent to 19 trillion won. Total operating profit rose 5.5 percent to 26.4 trillion won, but sales dropped 2.7 percent to 200.6 trillion won.
The profitability of Samsung's smartphone business, which accounts for more than 80 percent of its total revenue, has been undercut by the rising popularity of Chinese and budget models.
Some analysts believe Samsung's profit may fall this year as weak demand undercuts prices of memory chips and displays which offset declining profits in its mobile division last year.
Charles Lim
아주경제 임장원 기자 = cwlim34@ajunews.com
reporter
Park Sae-jin
swatchsjp@ajunews.com
