SEC earns net profit of W1.2 tril. in 1st quarter

Despite a slump in the semiconductor market, Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd (SEC)recorded a much better business performance than expected in the first quarter of this year although the performance marked a slight deterioration from the previous quarter.

According to a business report distributed to institutional investors Monday ahead of an investor relations (IR) session, the company`s main office recorded 8.6 trillion won in sales and 1.24 trillion won in net profits after taxes in the first quarter of this year. Operation profits were 1.61 trillion won, which includes 1.03 trillion won in the semiconductor division.

The sales performance is a 5-percent decrease from the previous quarter, but net profits after taxes saw a 7-percent rise, which is also higher than the projected figure of around 1 trillion won. Of the 8.6 trillion won in sales, the domestic market took 2.4 trillion won and exports 6.3 trillion won. Total sales, including those by overseas offices, came to 10.9 trillion won, a decrease of 8 percent from the fourth quarter of last year.

Corporate assets amounted to 27.8 trillion won as of the end of March, which is a 900 billion won increase from the end of December. Capital also increased by 1.5 trillion won to 17.7 trillion won. The company`s total debt decreased by 500 billion won to 10.2 trillion won, lowering the debt ratio from 66 percent to 57 percent. Return of equity (ROE) dropped sharply from 41 percent in the fourth quarter of 2000 to 29 percent in the first quarter of 2001 due to a worsening semiconductors market.

[Yonhap]