Business Desk :
Samsung Electronics on Wednesday reported a 34.57 percent drop in operating profits for the fourth quarter of 2023, as the company struggles with weak demand for consumer devices.
The company is the flagship subsidiary of South Korean giant Samsung Group, by far the largest of the family-controlled conglomerates that dominate business in Asia’s fourth-largest economy.
Operating profit from the October to December period was 2.82 trillion won ($2.1 billion), down from 4.31 trillion won a year earlier, Samsung said in a statement.
Sales for the last three months of 2023 dipped 3.8 percent to 67.78 trillion won, while a net profit of 6.34 trillion won was down 73.4 percent from a year earlier.
The firm — one of the world’s largest makers of memory chips and smartphones — blamed weak demand, but offered an optimistic outlook for 2024.
“As demand for smartphones and PCs gradually recovers in 2024, advanced processes are expected to drive an approach to 2022 levels in the foundry market,” it said.
