Samsung Q1 profits up by more than half

SEOUL: South Korean telecoms giant Samsung Electronics said on Thursday its firstquarter net profits soared by more than half thanks to strong demand for memory chips and its latest high-end smartphone.

The world’s biggest maker of memory chips and the flagship subsidiary of the sprawling Samsung group has recovered from a series of setbacks to post record profits in recent quarters. The global launch of its new flagship smartphone, the Galaxy S9, as well as strong demand for chips used for smartphones and cryptocurrency mining has contributed to the rise in profitability.

The firm faced an embarrassing global recall of the Galaxy Note 7 device over exploding batteries in 2016.

And last year its vice-chairman Lee Jae-yong, scion of Samsung’s founding family, was jailed for his part in the sprawling corruption scandal that brought down president Park Geun-hye.

He has since been released after some of his convictions were quashed on appeal, and the firm’s shareholders have seen its value soar.

Net profit for January-march rose 52 per cent to 11.69 trillion won ($10.8 billion), up from 7.68 trillion won a year earlier, the company said in a statement.

Operating profit was a record 15.64 trillion won, in line with the estimate of 15.6 trillion won suggested in a preliminary guidance report earlier this month. — AFP