Samsung Electronics who have been burning up the TV market in Australia and the USA as reported double-digit sales and profit increases with the Company delivering Apple like profits of $3.6 Billion for the quarter.
This is their biggest first quarter profit ever, with the company now saying that they will boost capital spending even further in a move that is set to hurt arch rival Sony who in the US market saw TV sales plunge 18% this year. In Australia Samsung has dominated the TV market with the Company grabbing 32% share in January Vs Sony’s 14%.
The net profit of $3.6 billion, in the first quarter was a 12 percent gain year on year. Sales were $31 billion, for the quarter, a year-on-year gain of 21 percent.
In Samsung’s digital media segment, where CE products are booming, sales were up 18 percent from the prior year’s first quarter. For mobile phones, sales were up 8 percent year on year.
In TVs Samsung reported sales of 8.4 million units in the first quarter, a 47 percent increase from the prior year’s first quarter, and the company said it expects demand to grow in the double digits again in the second quarter as well as improved profitability.
Samsung sold 64.3 million mobile phones in the first quarter, up 40 percent from the year before, and predicted growing demand in the second quarter.
The biggest profits came from its memory chips, which had an operating profit of 1.96 trillion won in the quarter, a gain of 38 percent year on year, and a 57 percent increase in sales.
