Samsung Profit Surges 44% as Mobile Sales Cushion Fab Loss
- Company released new flagship Android phone earlier than usual
- Faster-than-expected recovery pushing up memory chip prices
This article is for subscribers only.
Samsung Electronics Co.’s profit for the first quarter rose 44% from the prior year as the early release of a new flagship smartphone and strong gadget sales softened the blow from a Texas power failure that took one of its factories offline.
South Korea’s biggest company posted operating income of 9.3 trillion won ($8.3 billion) for the three months ended March in preliminary results released Wednesday. That compares with a 8.88 trillion won average of forecasts. Sales for the quarter were 17% higher than the same period a year ago at 65 trillion won. The company didn’t provide net income or break out divisional performance, which it will report later this month.