Samsung Posts Record Profit in Q3 Despite Smartphone Struggles

Samsung Electronics on Wednesday posted record quarterly operating and net profits for the July-September period as solid demand for its memory chips cushioned the fallout from slowing smartphone sales - but warned of tougher times ahead.

The South Korean tech giant - the world's top maker of smartphones and memory chips - has recovered from a series of setbacks, including a humiliating recall and the jailing of its de facto chief, to post a series of record-breaking numbers.

The profits have been driven by its mighty semiconductor unit, which provides chips for its own devices as well as competitors including Apple.

But that run was coming to an end, Samsung signalled in a statement, saying that it expected "overall earnings across the company to decline" in the fourth quarter due to seasonal factors in the semiconductor market.

Going into 2019, "earnings are forecast to be weak for the first quarter" for the same reason, it added, before business conditions improved.

For Q3 2018, Samsung reported operating profit of KRW 17.6 trillion ($15.4 billion), up 21 percent from a year ago and a record for any quarter.

Net profit also jumped 17.5 percent year-on-year to reach KRW 13.1 trillion for the July-September period, also a record, while sales rose 5.5 percent to 65.4 trillion won.

The figures - in line with estimates announced earlier this month - were "driven mainly by the continued strength of the memory (chip) business", Samsung said.

The unit dominates the global market and the firm has invested tens of billions of dollars each year to build and expand its factories.

It reported an operating profit of KRW 13.6 trillion, the second consecutive quarterly record, offsetting sagging profits at the mobile phone division.

Mobile handsets once contributed the lion's share of Samsung Electronics' overall sales and profit, but the unit reported a third-quarter operating profit of only KRW 2.22 trillion, down 33 percent year-on-year.

Margins were squeezed in the face of growing competition with archrival Apple for high-end devices, and Chinese firms churning out cheaper devices in the mid- and low-end segments, where Samsung said sales fell.

But investors welcomed the figures and the firm's share price was up 0.71 percent in morning trade on the Seoul stock market.

Flagship unit
Samsung Electronics is the flagship unit of the Samsung Group, by far the South's largest conglomerate and controlled by the founding Lee family.

It plans to invest a whopping KRW 31.8 trillion in production facilities this year, it said, mostly to build and expand chip production plants.

It also vowed to expand mobile sales in the long term by rolling out new technologies including much-anticipated foldable phones and artificial intelligence installed in its devices.

Samsung's reputation suffered a major blow from a damaging worldwide recall of its flagship Galaxy Note 7 smartphone over exploding batteries two years ago, which cost the firm billions of dollars.

The group's heir, Lee Jae-yong, was also embroiled in a major corruption scandal that ousted former South Korean President Park Geun-hye and spent nearly a year in jail for bribing her close confidante.

The 50-year-old - the son of the current, ailing chairman Lee Kun-hee - was released from jail in February after several of his convictions were quashed on appeal.