Samsung Electronics Co, the largest maker of computer-memory chips, said fourth-quarter profit fell a greater-than-expected 63 percent as personal computer makers ordered fewer chips.
Seoul-based Samsung said net income fell to 403 billion won (US$306 million) in the three months to Dec. 31, down from 1.1 trillion won in the year-earlier quarter, on sales of 8.48 trillion won. The company didn't provide figures for earnings a share or sales for the previous quarter.
Samsung Electronics' shares surged 77 percent last year on expectations of a rebound in chip prices and prospects of consolidation in the memory-chip business. While Japanese chipmakers are exiting the market and prices are recovering, Samsung's earnings suffered as computer makers slashed orders for components, keeping the price of its main product below the cost of production for most of the quarter.
"Although the earnings are in the past, investors will show disappointment, betting the stock price is overvalued," said Jeon Jino, a strategist at Hyundai Securities Co.
Analysts forecast Samsung would earn 3.3 trillion won in 2001, according to the five most recent estimates by analysts from a poll conducted by IBES.
Samsung spokesman James Chung said fourth-quarter operating profit totaled 69 billion won, implying that most of the company's profit came from non-operating gains.
In a conference call, Chu Woo-sik, head of investor relations for Samsung, said dynamic random-access memory market sales rose 16 percent to 2.2 billion won in the fourth quarter from 1.9 billion in the third. The company's spending on new plants and equipment this year will fall to 3 trillion won from 4.2 trillion in 2001, he said.
Separately, Samsung forecasts that the cellphone market will total 415 million units this year and the company aims to sell 32 million cell phone units, up 14 percent from last year.
An Emirates flight from Dubai arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport yesterday afternoon, the first service of the airline since the US and Israel launched strikes against Iran on Saturday. Flight EK366 took off from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) at 3:51am yesterday and landed at 4:02pm before taxiing to the airport’s D6 gate at Terminal 2 at 4:08pm, data from the airport and FlightAware, a global flight tracking site, showed. Of the 501 passengers on the flight, 275 were Taiwanese, including 96 group tour travelers, the data showed. Tourism Administration Deputy Director-General Huang He-ting (黃荷婷) greeted Taiwanese passengers at the airport and
POSSIBILITIES EMERGE: With Taiwan’s victory and Japan’s narrow win over Australia, Taiwan now have a chance to advance if South Korea also beat the Aussies Taiwan has high hopes that the national baseball team would advance to the World Baseball Classic (WBC) quarter-finals after clinching a crucial 5-4 victory over South Korea in a nail-biting extra-inning game at the Tokyo Dome yesterday. Boosted by three home runs — two solo shots by Yu Chang (張育成) and Cheng Tsung-che (鄭宗哲) and a two-run homer by Stuart Fairchild — the triumph gave Taiwan a much-needed second victory in the five-team Pool C, where only the top two finishers would advance to the knockout stage in Miami, Florida. Entering extra innings with the game tied at four apiece, Taiwan scored
STRAIT OF HORMUZ: In the case of a prolonged blockade by Iran, Taiwan would look to sources of LNG outside the Middle East, including Australia and the US Taiwan would not have to ration power due to a shortage of natural gas, Minister of Economic Affairs Kung Ming-hsin (龔明鑫) said yesterday, after reports that the Strait of Hormuz was closed amid the conflict in the Middle East. The government has secured liquefied natural gas (LNG) supplies for this month and contingency measures are in place if the conflict extends into next month, Kung told lawmakers. Saying that 25 percent of Taiwan’s natural gas supplies are from Qatar, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus secretary-general Lin Pei-hsiang (林沛祥) asked about the situation in light of the conflict. There would be “no problems” with
MISSION OF PEACE: The foreign minister urged Beijing to respect Taiwan’s existence as an independent nation, and work together to ensure peace and stability in the region Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) yesterday rejected Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi’s (王毅) comments about Taiwan, criticizing China as a “troublemaker” in the international community and a disruptor of cross-strait peace. Speaking at a news conference on the sidelines of the Chinese National People’s Congress, Wang said that Taiwan has always been a territory of China and that it would be impossible for it to become its own country. The “return” of Taiwan to China was the natural outcome of the Chinese people’s resistance against Japan in World War II, and that any pursuit of independence was “doomed
RSS