Samsung Elec. Reports Record Earnings in 3Q

Samsung Electronics yesterday reported record earnings in the third quarter, an auspicious feat on the occasion of its 40th birthday this year.

The country’s leading electronics manufacturer raked in 35.87 trillion won (30.3 billion U.S. dollars) in sales and 4.23 trillion won (3.57 billion dollars) in operating profit.

All business lines including semiconductors, LCDs and telecommunications posted operating profit of more than one trillion won each except digital media.

Sales jumped 10.3 percent in the third quarter from 32.5 trillion won (27.5 billion dollars) in the second, up 2.87 trillion won (2.42 billion dollars) from 33 trillion won (27.9 billion dollars) posted in last year’s fourth quarter.

Operating profit also soared 67.9 percent to 2.52 trillion won (2.13 billion dollars) over the same period, up 221 billion won (187 million dollars) from the previous high of 4.01 trillion won (3.39 billion dollars) in the first quarter of 2004.

Sales in the first nine months of the year hit 97.05 trillion won (82 billion dollars) and operating profit 7.22 trillion won (6.1 billion dollars). If Samsung’s fourth quarter operating profit reaches 2.78 trillion won (2.35 billion dollars), the company will be Korea’s first company to post sales of 100 trillion won (84.5 billion dollars) and operating profit of 10 trillion won (8.45 billion dollars) in the same year.

The company cited a surplus of more than one trillion won (845 million dollars) in semiconductors as well as LCDs for its stellar performance.

Semiconductors posted a deficit of 670 billion won (566 million dollars) in the first quarter, but a rise in DRAM prices led to operating profit of 1.15 trillion won (971 million dollars) in the third quarter.

LCDs also performed well, going from a deficit of 310 billion won (262 million dollars) in the first quarter to an operating profit of 1.01 trillion won (8.53 million dollars).

Telecommunications that includes the mobile phone division recorded more than one trillion won in operating profit for the third consecutive quarter. Digital media, however, suffered a drop in operating profit due to higher marketing costs.

Lee Myeong-ji, head of Investor Relations at Samsung Electronics, said, “As the global economy is expected to pick up next year, we expect demand for most of our products to rise.”

The company will invest more than 5.5 trillion won (4.6 billion dollars) in memory chips and about three trillion won (2.53 billion dollars) in LCDs next year.

smhong@donga.com