Samsung, more precisely its key subsidiary Samsung Electronics, today released its financial report for the 4th quarter of last year and the last fiscal year. It shows that, mainly due to strong demand for chips and displays, its net profit increased by more than a quarter year-on-year in the last quarter. However, it fell compared to the third quarter.
According to a new financial report, Samsung Electronics earned 61,55 trillion won (roughly 1,2 billion crowns) in the last three months of last year, with a net profit of 9,05 billion won. won (approximately CZK 175 billion). For the whole of last year, sales reached 236,81 bil. won (about 4,6 billion crowns) and the net profit was 35,99 billion. won (roughly CZK 696 billion). The company's profit thus rose by 26,4% year-on-year, which was largely due to high demand for chips and displays. However, if we compare it with last year's third quarter, it fell by 26,7%, mainly due to lower memory prices and the negative effect of the domestic currency.
Compared to 2019, the company's profit for the whole of last year increased by 29,6% and sales increased by 2,8%.
Samsung's smartphone sales rose in the final quarter of last year thanks to a global economic recovery, but profits fell. The reason is "intensified competition and higher marketing costs". The smartphone division saw revenue of 22,34 billion during the quarter. won (approximately 431 billion crowns) and the profit was 2,42 billion. won (about 46,7 billion crowns). According to the company, it expects weaker sales of smartphones and tablets in the first quarter of this year, but the profit margin is thanks to the sales of the new flagship series Galaxy S21 and the launch of some products for the mass market growth.
Despite solid chip shipments in the last quarter of last year, the company's semiconductor division's profit fell. This was mainly due to the drop in prices of DRAM chips, the drop in the value of the dollar against the won, and the initial investment in the construction of new production lines. The semiconductor division earned 4 billion in the 18,18th quarter of last year. won (approximately 351 billion crowns) and reported a profit of 3,85 billion. won (roughly CZK 74,3 billion).
Demand for DRAM and NAND chips increased during the quarter as technology companies built new data centers and launched new Chromebooks, laptops, gaming consoles and graphics cards. The company expects demand for DRAM to increase further in the first half of this year, driven by strong smartphone and server demand. However, revenues in the first half of the year are expected to fall due to increased production of new production lines.
Another division of the most important subsidiary of Samsung - Samsung Display - in the last quarter of the year recorded 9,96 billion won in sales (over 192 billion crowns) and its profit was 1,75 billion. won (approximately CZK 33,6 billion). These are the company's highest quarterly numbers, which were mostly contributed by the recovery of the smartphone and TV market. Mobile display revenue surged thanks to higher smartphone sales during the holiday season, while losses from large panels eased thanks to stable TV sales and rising average prices of TVs and monitors since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic.
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