Samsung Quarterly Profits Fall First Time In Two Years

Samsung’s quarterly profits have fallen for the first time in two years as increased competition in the smartphone industry saw its income fall by 18 percent from the previous, record breaking quarter.

The Korean manufacturer posted revenues of 59.28 trillion won (£32.8bn) for the fourth quarter of 2013, a year-on-year increase but only marginally more than the 59.08 trillion won (£32.76bn) it generated in the previous quarter. Meanwhile, profits shrank from 8.24 trillion won (£4.6bn) to 7.3 trillion won (£4bn) quarter-on-quarter.

The company said it was also hit by currency fluctuations that impacted its earnings to the tune of 700 billion won and a one-off payment of 800 million won, but stressed its operational results were respectably strong. It also warned that it will be difficult to turn things around in the traditionally weak first quarter of the new year.

Samsung Q4 results

“Looking at the quarterly earnings trend, we expect 2014 to follow last year’s pattern of a weak first half and a strong second half as usual,” said Robert Yi, senior vice president and head of Investor Relations.

Despite the drop in quarterly profits, Samsung did post record annual profits of 30.47 trillion won (£14.7bn)  in 2013 – more than the 23.85 million (£13.2bn) it made in 2012.

Samsung said the record annual profits can be attributed to strong sales of its smartphones, tablets and televisions, and spoke of its delight that it maintained the market leadership in the smartphone industry.

While it intends to stay number one in 2014, the company also hopes to establish itself as the leader in the emerging field of wearable technology as it seeks to offset any saturation in the smartphone market. In November, Samsung told TechWeekEurope about its plan to break into enterprise mobility services as another way of ensuring it enjoys the same levels of growth as it has done in the last few years.

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