Samsung Q4 net tumbles on smartphone, chip woes

By Kang Yoon-seung

SEOUL, Jan. 28 (Yonhap) -- Samsung Electronics Co. reported a sharp drop in fourth-quarter profit Thursday as its smartphone business stuttered on weak demand amid falling chip prices.

Net profit reached 3.22 trillion won (US$2.68 billion) in the October-December period, down 39.7 percent from the 5.34 trillion won posted a year earlier, Samsung Electronics said in its regulatory filing.

Sales advanced 1.11 percent on-year to 53.3 trillion won in the October-December period while the operating profit moved up 16.15 percent over the cited period to 6.14 trillion won.

For all of 2015, Samsung's net profit shed 18.53 percent to 19 trillion won. Its operating profit came to 26.4 trillion won, up 5.55 percent from the previous year, but sales dropped 2.69 percent to 200.6 trillion won.

The final earnings result came in line with the guidance report released earlier this month, when Samsung estimated its fourth-quarter operating profit and sales to stand at 6.1 trillion won and 53 trillion won for the October-December period.

Shares of Samsung Electronics closed 3.34 percent higher on Wednesday to 1,175,000 won, when the KOSPI moved up 1.4 percent. The fourth-quarter result was released before the market opened Thursday.

colin@yna.co.kr
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