Samsung has announced record profits in its fourth quarter earnings on the back of strong demand for mobile chipsets, display panels and smartphones. The South Korean company announced on Tuesday that its fourth quarter profit more than doubled over the same period last year. However, it announced a weaker guidance for the current quarter because of weaker TV sales and increased spending in mobile marketing.
Samsung posted 7.1 trillion Korean Won (or nearly Rs 41,539 crore) in net income during the October-December quarter compared to 3.2 trillion Korean Won (or nearly Rs 18,722 crore) a year earlier. In a regulatory filing, the company confirmed that sales stayed flat at 53.3 trillion Korean Won while operating profit surged to 9.2 trillion Korean Won (or nearly Rs 53,783 crores). The results are in line with company's guidance announced earlier this month.
The results come a day after the South Korean giant announced the cause for Galaxy Note 7 catching fire in September. The company lost nearly $5.3 billion in operating profit due to the Galaxy Note 7 recall and termination of sales. Reuters reports that "earnings from the chips business soared 77 percent year-on-year to a 4.95 trillion won while operating profit from the mobile business rose 12 percent to 2.5 trillion won in the fourth quarter."
Samsung has also confirmed the company won't be showcasing its next flagship Galaxy S8 at MWC and the launch is expected to be delayed till March. Samsung has announced strong results in the fourth quarter and stable outlook for the rest of 2017. With heir Jay Lee been classified as suspect for paying bribes to win support for merger, uncertainty looms over the leadership in the conglomerate.