SAMSUNG EXPECTS REDUCED PROFIT AFTER GOOD Q3 RESULTS

Samsung Electronics Co. expects its profitability to worsen in the fourth quarter after delivering a forecast-beating performance in the third quarter on its better-than-expected chip business and demand for its mobile and home appliance products amid the pandemic. 

The world's largest memory chip and smartphone vendor said its net profit amounted to 9.36 trillion won (US$8.3 billion) in the third quarter, up 48.9 percent from a year earlier, Joo Kyung-don reported for Yonhap news agency. 

Operating profit jumped 58.8 percent on-year to 12.35 trillion won in the third quarter of the year, marking its best quarterly performance since the third quarter of 2018, when it logged an operating profit of 17.5 trillion won. Sales rose 8 percent on-year to 66.96 trillion won in the July-September period, its largest-ever quarterly sales, beating the previous record of 65.9 trillion won in the fourth quarter of 2017. 

Compared with the second quarter, sales rose 26.43 percent, while operating profit soared 51.64 percent. The figures were in line with the earnings guidance announced earlier this month that beat the market consensus. Samsung attributed its upbeat performance to firm demand for smartphones and consumer electronics, while its chip business benefited from rush orders from Huawei Technologies Co. over US sanctions despite a decline in memory prices.