Samsung Electronics Co, the world’s largest seller of flat-screen televisions, yesterday said that operating profit was likely hit a record-high in the second quarter as sales increased.
The Suwon, South Korea-based company said it expected consolidated operating profit of between 4.8 trillion won (US$3.9 billion) and 5.2 trillion won for the three months ended June 30, according to a statement. That would beat the company’s previous all-time high of 4.41 trillion won set in the first quarter.
Samsung, a major force in the global electronics industry, is also the world’s biggest seller of computer memory chips and liquid-crystal displays. It ranks No. 2 in mobile phone handsets after Finland’s Nokia Corp.
It gave no reason for the quarterly performance and will formally announce second-quarter earnings at the end of this month, spokesman Jason Kim said.
Samsung does not release net profit forecasts. The company recorded net profit of 2.25 trillion won in the second quarter of last year, a figure based on South Korean accounting standards, spokesman James Chung said.
Samsung adopted international financial reporting standards, or IFRS, from the first quarter of this year.
Operating profit is seen as a direct indicator of business performance before taxes, dividends, asset sales and other items that are figured into net profit or loss.
Samsung began issuing earnings estimates, or guidance, last year in hopes increased transparency would help minimize market speculation over its performance. The estimates include the performance of its overseas and domestic subsidiaries.
Samsung estimated consolidated sales of between 36 trillion won and 38 trillion won for the second quarter. That compares with sales of 32.51 trillion won a year earlier, a figure Samsung recalculated to conform with IFRS.
It said in May it would invest a record 26 trillion won this year in capital spending and research and development as it bets on future growth, despite questions about the global economic outlook.
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