Samsung says 2nd-quarter net profit rose 5.2 percent over last year’s, sales rise

Samsung says quarter-2 net profit rose 5.2 percent

SEOUL, South Korea — Samsung Electronics said Friday that second-quarter net profit rose 5.2 percent from the same period last year as sales of flat screen televisions and mobile phones increased and prices for memory chips moved higher amid stronger demand for personal computers.

Samsung Electronics Co., the world’s biggest manufacturer of computer memory chips and flat screen televisions, earned 2.25 trillion won ($1.81 billion) in the three months ended June 30, it said in a regulatory filing. Samsung posted net profit of 2.14 trillion won in the same quarter last year.

Sales during the quarter rose 15.9 percent to 21.02 trillion won from 18.14 trillion won a year earlier.

The result was good news for Samsung, which has seen earnings stall in recent quarters amid the global economic slump. Net profit fell sharply in the first quarter and the company reported its first ever quarterly loss in the final three months of last year.

Samsung, a leading global consumer electronics company, is also the world’s second-biggest producer of mobile phones.

“Samsung achieved outstanding results in the second quarter with our consumer electronics business remaining strong and a solid performance in the still challenging components market,” Samsung Vice President Robert Yi said in a press release.

The results also come as two other major South Korean companies — LG Electronics Inc. and Hyundai Motor Co. — announced record quarterly profits this week.

Shares in Samsung rose 0.3 percent to 680, 000 won in morning trading Friday.