Samsung Electronics flags 60% slump in Q1 operating profit

Seoul: The world’s biggest smartphone and memory chip maker Samsung Electronics warned Friday of a more than 60 percent plunge in first-quarter operating profits in the face of weakening markets.

Operating profits for January to March would be “approximately 6.2 trillion won”, the firm said in a statement, down 60.4 percent on-year.

Sales were about 52 trillion won, it said, marking a 14 percent drop.

The firm is the flagship subsidiary of the giant Samsung Group, by far the biggest of the family-controlled conglomerates that dominate business in the world’s 11th-largest economy, and it is crucial to South Korea’s economic health.