Samsung reaches $10b in profit

Samsung reaches $10b in profit

SEOUL: Samsung Electronics Co. said on Friday its net profit topped US$10 billion last year, reaching a new landmark in its 35-year history of rising from a Third World television maker to the world's No. 1 producer of memory chips and flat panel screens.

Samsung exited last year on a weak note, with its fourth- quarter net profit falling 2 percent from a year earlier to 1.83 trillion won ($1.76 billion) because of squeezed margins for its mobile handsets and weaker prices for liquid crystal displays.

But the firm, one of the world's most profitable high-tech companies, had a healthy performance for the year as a whole and was forecast to do equally well this year thanks to strong demand for chips and a growing appetite for Samsung's savvy mobile phones.

Reflecting the optimism, the company planned to invest 10.27 trillion won, a 34 percent increase from last year, to upgrade production facilities for chips and liquid crystal displays and churn out more cell phones.

According to data released on Friday, Samsung's net income last year zoomed a whopping 81 percent to 10.79 trillion won, while annual sales rose 32 percent to 57.63 trillion won. -- AP