It was a good year for Samsung Electronics in 2018 with its sales hitting an all-time high.
But it wasn't all good news, because its fourth quarter earnings dropped sharply.
Kim Ji-yeon explains.
Korean tech giant Samsung Electronics says its sales and operating profits both hit a yearly all-time high in 2018 due to a semiconductor boom that lasted until the third quarter last year... but forecasts weaker earnings for this year on slowing chip demand.
On Thursday, the company said its combined sales for 2018 amounted to 219-point-3 billion U.S. dollars... some 2 billion dollars more than its preliminary estimate released earlier in January.
Operating profits for 2018 amounted to nearly 53 billion dollars,... which is zero-point-6-billion dollars less than its earlier estimate... but is still a record-high.
Its operating profits in the fourth quarter of last year were similar to the preliminary estimate of 9-point-7 billion dollars... which is a 28-point-7 percent drop from the previous year.
Sales during the October-to-December period last year were slightly up from the previous estimate at 53-point-3 billion dollars,... a 10-point-2-percent drop on-year.
Samsung said the disappointing Q4 earnings are mainly due to global chipmakers adjusting their inventories and its main clients cutting their orders.
The company says it expected overall annual earnings to decline this year, although sales of memory products and OLED panels is expected to pickup in the second half.
Its memory and processor chips account for more than 70-percent of overall profit.
The general consensus among local market watchers backs up Samsung's projections that it may be able to rebound in the latter half of the year thanks to seasonal factors.
But analysts also say a dramatic uptick in the company's earnings is unlikely since semiconductor prices are expected to drop further this year... in response to growing signs of a slowdown in the global economy... and rising uncertainties in trade.
Kim Ji-yeon, Arirang News.
