Samsung has reported a drop in quarterly profit, the first such decrease for two years. Operating profit fell to 8.31 trillion South Korean won (£4.6 billion) for the October to December quarter. That’s an 18% drop compared to the previous quarter and a 6% fall year-on-year. Consolidated net profit was 7.30 trillion won for the quarter.
The profit drop was the result of a number of factors including falling smartphone sales, currency fluctuation and a staff bonus payment that celebrated 20 years of chairman Lee Kun-hee’s management strategy.
Net income for the quarter was 7.3 trillion (£4.1 billion); quarterly revenue was 59.28 trillion won
Quarterly operating profit for the company’s IT & Mobile Communications division was down from the previous quarter at 5.47 trillion won.
Samsung’s net income for the full year was a record 30.47 trillion won on sales of 228.69 trillion won, with operating profit up 27% year-on-year to 36.79 trillion won.
Robert Yi, Senior Vice President and Head of Investor Relations at Samsung, said “Amid macroeconomic uncertainties such as a strong Korean won and increased concerns over possible quantitative easing (QE) tapering in the US, our earnings were lower than what the market expected due to a negative currency impact of around 700 billion won and a significant one-off expense of about 800 billion won, however, fourth quarter operational results were respectably strong. Looking at the quarterly earnings trend, we expect 2014 to follow last year’s pattern of a weak first half and a strong second half as usual.”