三星去年四季度利润同比下跌8.5%

　　Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. posted an 8.5 percent drop in quarterly profit on Friday on weaker shipments of flash memory chips and falling prices of flat screens and forecast a challenging first quarter.

　　The first part of 2007 looks bumpy as seasonally weak demand for NAND flash memory chips and flat panel screens will likely offset a strong showing from computer memory chips.

　　Samsung earned 2.346 trillion won ($2.5 billion) in net profit for the quarter ended December 31， against 2.563 trillion a year earlier and 2.187 trillion in the previous quarter.

　　Samsung’s net profit is likely to rise 16 percent to 9.2 trillion won from 7.93 trillion in 2006. That number would still be well short of 2004’s record 10.79 trillion.

　　Revenue came in at 15.69 trillion won， up from 15.52 trillion a year earlier.

　　Samsung saw the overall profit margin at its mainstay chips division rise to 31 percent from the third quarter’s 26 percent.But the South Korean firm was hurt by shipment growth of only 19 percent for its NAND flash chips， compared with general expectations for a 40 percent jump.

　　Samsung sold record 32 million mobile phones in the fourth quarter， up from the third quarter’s 30.7 million units. But profit margin in the handset division fell to 8 percent from 11 percent in the third as marketing costs doubled in what appears to be an increasingly difficult market.

　　Samsung’s liquid crystal display (LCD) business， with margins coming in at 10 percent against 13 percent in the fourth quarter of 2005. The margin， however， was double that in the preceding quarter due to seasonal factors.The company predicted slight falls in LCD selling prices in 2007 but said it didn’t expect excessive growth in LCD supply.

　　三星电子上周五公布了去年第四财季报告，由于闪存出货低于预期、

　　NAND闪存及平板显示器的季节性疲软可能会抵消电脑内存的强劲，因此今年第一季度公司将面临严峻形势。

　　在去年12月31日结束的第四季度里，三星净利润为2.346万亿韩元（25亿美元），前年同期为2.563万亿韩元，前一季度为2.187万亿韩元。

　　去年第四季度三星的销售收入为15.69万亿韩元，高于前年同期的15.52万亿韩元。

　　作为主流业务芯片部门的利润率从去年第三季度的26%提高到31%，但三星NAND闪存的出货量只上升了19%，低于市场预期的40%。另外三星表示，今年第一季度DRAM芯片的价格可能会出现5%以上的跌幅，闪存价格可能下跌不到10%。

　　三星去年第四季度手机销售量达到创纪录的3200万部，比去年第三季度的3070万部有所增长，但利润率却从第三季度的11%下跌到8%。

　　另外三星去年第四季度LCD业务的利润率为10%，两倍于去年第三季度，但低于2005年同期的13%。公司预计2007年LCD的价格将出现小幅下跌，但不认为LCD的供应会出现大幅增长。