Samsung Net Profit Drops 6.6%

Samsung Electronics Co. said Tuesday that its fourth-quarter net profit fell 6.6 percent due to sharp declines in prices for computer memory chips, though sales of mobile phone handsets surged to a record.

Samsung Electronics, the world's largest manufacturer of computer memory chips, earned 2.212 trillion won ($2.36 billion) in the three months that ended Dec. 31, the company said in a statement. Samsung posted net profit of 2.368 trillion won in the same period a year earlier.

As the results were being released, South Korea special prosecutors were raiding the Seoul headquarters of Samsung Group, the conglomerate that Samsung Electronics anchors.

Investigators are probing allegations by a former Samsung Group lawyer that the conglomerate set up a slush fund to bribe prosecutors, government officials and others. Samsung has denied the allegations.

Samsung's financial results, though marking its fourth net profit decline in the past five quarters, were better than expected. The average estimate of nine analysts surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires forecast that Samsung would post a net profit of 1.97 trillion won ($2.1 billion).

Investors sent Samsung's share price 2.5 percent higher to 538,000 won ($574) in late morning trading.

Sales during the quarter rose 11 percent to a record 17.48 trillion won ($18.65 billion) from 15.68 trillion won a year earlier. The result was better than the 17.09 trillion won ($18.22 billion) forecast by the analysts.

Samsung also is the world's top producer of liquid crystal displays and flat-screen televisions and ranks No. 2 in mobile phones behind Finland's Nokia Corp.