SEOUL: Samsung Electronics, the world's largest manufacturer of computer memory chips and flat screen televisions, said Friday its net profit rose 13 percent in the fourth quarter amid higher sales of semiconductors and smartphones as the technology giant rounded out a record year for earnings and revenue. Samsung earned 3.42 trillion won ($3.1 billion) in the three months ended Dec. 31, compared with net profit of 3.04 trillion won the year before. Sales rose 7 percent to 41.9 trillion won. For all of 2010, net profit surged 65 percent to a record 16.1 trillion won. Sales also increased to an all-time high of 154.6 trillion won, up 13 percent. Operating profit - seen as a direct indicator of business performance before taxes, dividends, asset sales and other items are figured into net profit or loss - jumped 58 percent to 17.3 trillion won, also a record. Operating profit for the fourth quarter, however, declined 12 percent to 3.01 trillion won from the year before and a sharper 38 percent compared with the previous three months as the company battled price declines for liquid crystal displays and memory chips and intense competition in the global television market.
