Samsung posts Q4 profit despite pandemic challenges

South Korean tech giant Samsung’s net profit increased 26.4% in the fourth quarter of the fiscal year 2020, the company said on Thursday.

Despite challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, efforts to ensure “stable supply of products and services globally helped Samsung’s fourth-quarter results,” the company said in a statement.

“Profit rose 26.4 percent year-on-year led by display and memory chip businesses, but fell 26.7 percent from the third quarter due to weaker memory prices and sluggish consumer products sales, as well as higher marketing costs and negative impact from the Korean won’s appreciation,” read the statement.

Samsung’s net income in the fourth quarter (October to December) stood at 6.6 trillion won (approximately $5.8 billion), up from 5.22 trillion won (approximately $4.6 billion) a year earlier.

“The Company posted KRW 61.55 trillion [approximately $55 billion] in consolidated revenue and KRW 9.05 trillion [approximately $8 billion] in operating profit in the quarter ended December 31, 2020,” the statement said.

“For the entire year, it reported KRW 236.81 trillion [approximately $211.5 billion] in revenue and KRW 35.99 trillion [approximately $32.1 billion] in operating profit.”

However, Samsung said its memory chip business saw earnings decline due to weaker prices and the Korean won’s appreciation against the US dollar.

“The local currency’s value rose sharply against the US dollar, euro and key emerging market currencies, resulting in a negative impact equivalent to about KRW 1.4 trillion [approximately $1.2 billion] compared with the previous quarter, mostly in semiconductor and display businesses,” read the statement.

The company expects a fall in overall profit in the first quarter of 2021.

“The Memory Business will likely continue to be affected by the ongoing strength in the won and costs associated with new production lines, despite solid demand from mobile products and data centers,” the statement added.

Samsung said it is anticipating a strong performance from its mobile communications business, with “robust sales of flagship smartphones such as the Galaxy S21 and new mass market models.”

* Writing by Islamuddin Sajid