Samsung Posts Record Q4 Net Profit
Samsung announced its Q4 2012 financial results today and, as expected, they are impressive. Consolidated operating profit over the three-month period hit a new record of 8.84 trillion won (circa $8.3 billion), from revenue of 56.06 trillion won (approximately $52.4 billion). The firm saw its profit increase 10 percent on the previous quarter — that’s 89 percent year-on-year– while revenue was up 7 percent on Q3 2012 and 19 percent year-on-year).
Mobile has always been a key market for Samsung, but the release is terribly vague when it comes to breaking down exactly how the company did with regard to units sold. Even so, revenue from Samsung’s Mobile Communications division grew 4 percent from the prior quarter, and Samsung specifically calls out the Galaxy S III and Galaxy Note II as key performers — the inclusion of the latter isn’t much of a shock considering it sold around 5 million units in its first two months on the market, and is reportedly nearing 10 million units sold globally. Taking a step back, Samsung’s IT and Mobile Communications unit as a whole reported 5.44 trillion won ($5.09 billion), slightly down from Q3 but more than double the 2.56 trillion won ($2.39 billion) Samsung recorded in the year-ago quarter.
[quote]Robert Yi, senior vice president and head of Investor Relations, said: “Despite uncertainties in Europe and concerns over the US fiscal cliff creating a difficult business environment, we did our best this quarter to achieve strong earnings based on a strategic focus on differentiated and high value-added products as well as our technological competitiveness.”[/quote]
However, despite the firm’s impressive Q4 profits, Yi remains cautious with regards to Samsung’s position in the market over the coming 12 months.
The company has suggested that the significant number of new products coming to market and the inevitable price competition to follow will make 2013 a challenging year.
