3rd highest in sales history of 236.807 billion
Influence of propaganda such as semiconductors, smartphones, and home appliances
Samsung Electronics’ operating profit increased by nearly 30% last year during the Corona 19 economic crisis.
On the 28th, Samsung Electronics announced that, as a result of aggregating the provisional results of last year’s consolidated basis, its operating profit increased by 29.62% compared to the previous year to 35.93 trillion won. It is the fourth highest performance ever based on annual operating profit. Sales totaled 236 trillion won, an increase of 2.78% year-on-year, the third highest ever.
Last year, the Corona 19 pandemic (a global pandemic) hit, but as non-face-to-face demand surged, semiconductors, smartphones, home appliances, etc. Last year’s fourth quarter earnings were slower than the previous quarter, the third quarter, which was affected by the strong won against the dollar and the initial cost of new lines.
Samsung Electronics poured over 38 trillion won into facility investment last year. This is a 43% increase from 2019. Semiconductor investment cost was 32.9 trillion won, accounting for most.
This year, Samsung Electronics is predicted to outperform last year due to a long-term boom in semiconductors amid rising DRAM prices. Securities prices expect operating profit of 25 trillion won to 27 trillion won in semiconductors alone and 50 trillion won in total.
However, Samsung Electronics, which released its results on the day, carefully predicted that there is a possibility of a decline in profitability due to continued global economic uncertainty due to Corona 19. In particular, semiconductor earnings are expected to decline due to the negative impact of the exchange rate and the initial cost of new lines.
On this day, Samsung Electronics announced that it will maintain a policy of reducing 50% of its free cash flow and execute 9.8 trillion won in dividends every year from 2021 to 2023. In addition, in accordance with the 2018-2020 shareholder return policy, a dividend of KRW 1,932 per common share will be paid by adding special dividends using the remaining resources.
Meanwhile, Samsung Electronics has formalized preparations for mergers and acquisitions. “Samsung Electronics intends to further solidify its market leadership position in existing industries and strengthen the foundation for sustainable growth in new industries,” said Yoon-ho Choi (CFO), CEO of Samsung Electronics’ Management Support Office. We will expand and promote M&A.”
This is the first time that Samsung Electronics officially mentioned M&A since it completed its acquisition of automotive electronics company Harman in February 2017. The market is predicting the acquisition of Samsung’s semiconductor-related companies.
/ Reporter Shin Ji-young [email protected]