Samsung posts biggest quarterly profit since 2013

Seoul: South Korean tech giant Samsung Electronics posted its biggest quarterly net profit for more than three years on Thursday after shrugging off the debacle over exploding Galaxy Note 7 batteries. The results, driven by strong demand for the company’s memory chips, represented its second-largest ever quarterly profit. Shares in the firm — the flagship subsidiary of the sprawling Samsung Group — have climbed in recent months as rising expectations overcame last year’s recall embarrassment and its vice-chairman going on trial for bribery. But it formally dropped a reform plan on Thursday that would have seen it split in two and could have made the group’s opaque structure more transparent. Net profit for the January-March period jumped 46 per cent from a year ago to 7.68 trillion won ($6.7 billion), Samsung Electronics said in a statement. It was its biggest quarterly net profit since the record third quarter of 2013. Operating profit jumped 48 per cent from a year ago to 9.89 trillion won — also the biggest since the third quarter of 2013. A breakdown of the figures showed the firm’s semiconductor business made its largest-ever operating profit of 6.3 trillion won. Samsung — the world’s largest maker of both mobile phones and memory chips — provides its chips to other companies including archrival Apple. It was humiliated by the Galaxy Note 7 recall last year, which cost it billions of dollars and dealt a blow to its reputation, but has just launched a new flagship device, the Galaxy S8, to positive reviews and strong orders. — AFP