South Korea’s Samsung Electronics said yesterday that second-quarter net profit grew 51 percent from the same period last year, amid strong performance in flat panels and mobile phones.
Samsung earned 2.14 trillion won (US$2.12 billion) in the three months ended on June 30, the company said in a regulatory filing and press release. Sales during the quarter rose 24 percent to a record 18.14 trillion won.
TOUGH ENVIRONMENT
“We posted very strong results,” Chu Woo-sik, executive vice president of investor relations, told analysts on a conference call, overcoming what he described as a tough economic environment.
Samsung also said it sold 45.7 million mobile phone handsets in the second quarter, 22 percent higher than the same period last year.
The sales figure was slightly off the 46.3 million sold in the previous quarter. Still, Chu called the second quarter “a commendable result” for mobile phones.
Handset sales for the first half totaled 92 million, an increase of more than 20 percent from the same period last year, Samsung said.
SALES TARGET
Chi Young-cho, senior vice president for Samsung’s telecommunication business, said he was confident the company would achieve sales of 200 million handsets this year.
Samsung Electronics Co is the world’s biggest manufacturer of memory chips, liquid crystal displays and flat screen televisions.
It ranks second behind Finland’s Nokia Corp in mobile phones.
In televisions, Chu said that Samsung expects its market share to continue increasing from its global No. 1 position.
He said he was particularly optimistic that US market share would come in at the high 20 percent range for the second quarter, calling it a “region that no one has ever treaded before.”
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