New estimates indicate that Samsung was in the black in the first quarter of this year.
For stock companies who estimated that Samsung was 300 billion won (US$227.4 million) in the hole, it is the first good news this year. Stock companies predicted that Samsung would lose over 1 trillion won in the first quarter. However, latest rumors are that Samsung’s loss might be not that big; some have even started predicting that Samsung earned money.
Samsung projects that its sales were 16.9 trillion won (US$12.81 billion) which is a decrease of 8.6 percent compared to the first quarter last year. It is 313 billion won (US$ 237.254 million) in the black based on consolidated financial statements.
HMC Investment Securities Co., Ltd. announced in April 12: “Samsung was cutting marketing costs; also the exchange rate is friendly. Thus we predict that Samsung turned from a 937 billion won (US$ 710.246 million) loss in the fourth quarter of last year to a 25 billion won profit this first quarter.”
An official said: “Samsung had a large expenditure of clearance and marketing to promote sales in the fourth quarter. But in this first quarter, marketing costs were reduced by decreased promotion costs, an advantageous exchange rate, and the rise of NAND flash memory prices. These factors offset losses in the semiconductor sector.”
He also made a prediction about LG Electronics: “Even though mobile phone sales were decreased in the first quarter, the market share in America, Japan, and Korea expanded. It helped to record 6.9 percent of operating profitability; also there are good sales of air conditioners and luxury cell phones expected in the second quarter. Thanks to these factors the business profit is recorded as 518.5 billion won [US$393.02 million], which is a 35.8 percent increase compared to a year ago.”
