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South Korea's Samsung Electronics Friday reported a record operating profit of 4.41 trillion won (four billion dollars) in the first quarter as stronger demand drove chip prices up.
Net profit was 3.99 trillion won in January-March and revenue increased 21 percent year-on-year to 34.64 trillion won, the firm said in a statement. The figures include results from overseas subsidiaries.
The operating profit represented a 643 percent increase year-on-year and beat the previous high of 4.22 trillion won in the third quarter of 2009.
The results were slightly better than the earnings guidance the firm released earlier this month, forecasting Q1 revenues of about 34 trillion won and an operating profit of 4.3 trillion.
Samsung, which for the first time used international financial reporting standards to tally its figures, said its strong performance was driven by significant improvements in the components businesses, especially semiconductors, and strong earnings in the set businesses.
Vice president Robert Yi was cautiously optimistic second-quarter earnings would improve further due to continued strong memory chip markets, firm demand for LCD panels and increased sales of set products such as mobile phones and televisions.
