Samsung Electronics' operating profit rebounds in Q4

Samsung Electronics posted a 30 percent gain in operating profit in the fourth quarter of 2014 from three months earlier on the back of strong semiconductor sales, the company said Thursday.

Operating profit increased to 5.29 trillion won (4.87 billion U. S. dollars) in the three months ending Dec. 31 from 4.06 trillion won in the third quarter of 2014. From a year earlier, the profit declined 36 percent.

After peaking at a record 10.16 trillion won in the third quarter of 2013, Samsung's operating profit kept falling to 4.06 trillion won in the third quarter of 2014 before rebounding the next quarter.

Revenue was 52.73 trillion won in the fourth quarter. It was up 11 percent from three months earlier, but down 11 percent from a year earlier.

The final figures were slightly higher than preliminary estimates unveiled earlier this month by the company of 5.2 trillion won in operating profit and 52 trillion won in revenue.

The relatively optimistic fourth-quarter profit came as Samsung 's semiconductor business posted a 2.7 trillion won operating profit, which accounted for more than half of the total. It also marked the highest in about four years.

The chip-making business logged a 10.66 trillion won in revenue in the fourth quarter, topping the 10 trillion-won level. The company attributed the upbeat earnings to demand for 20-nm mobile application processors (AP) and system LSI chips.

Samsung's division, which makes display panels, recorded a 470 billion won in operating profit in the quarter, with the consumer electronics unit's operating profit increasing to 180 billion won in the fourth quarter from 50 billion won the prior quarter.

The IT and mobile business, which produces smartphones, saw a 12 percent increase in operating profit from 1.75 trillion won in the third quarter to 1.96 trillion won in the fourth quarter of last year.

The company's smartphone business more than halved in profits in the third quarter on weaker demand for high-end products and fiercer competition with Chinese rivals. The profit rebounded in the fourth quarter, but it failed to exceed the 2 trillion-won level.

For the whole year of 2014, Samsung's operating profit was 25.3 trillion won, down 32 percent from a year earlier. It marked the lowest since it posted a 15.65 trillion won profit in 2011. Revenue declined 9.8 percent from a year earlier to 206.21 trillion won in 2014.