SEOUL: Samsung Electronics Co., the world's biggest technology firm by revenue, estimated Tuesday it had posted a record operating profit of 8.8 trillion won (US$8.3 billion) in the fourth quarter of 2012.
The preliminary estimate represents an 88.8% jump from a revised operating profit of 4.66 trillion won a year earlier, Samsung said in a regulatory filing. It is also a 9.2% increase from the previous three months, South Korea's (Yonhap) news agency reported..
Samsung is estimated to have sold 63 million smartphones out of total handset sales of 110.5 million units in the three-month period, according to KB Investment & Securities Co. analyst Byun Han-joon.
KDB Daewoo Securities Co. analyst James Song wrote in a recent report that Samsung is expected to ship 300 million smartphones this year, buoyed by positive response for the yet-to-be released "Tizen" phone.
By business unit, Samsung is estimated have reaped 5.9 trillion won from its IT and mobile division, followed by a 1.6 trillion won operating profit in semiconductors, 1.2 trillion won in display and 400 billion won in consumer electronics in the fourth quarter, according to KDB Daewoo Securities. (QNA)
