Samsung forecasts record quarter, despite scandals

Samsung yesterday forecast its best quarterly profit in three years, for the three months to the end of March, beating expectations. That has put it on track for record annual earnings, on the back of a memory chip super-cycle.

The company has rapidly recovered from the costly failure last year of its fire-prone Galaxy Note 7 device, despite a political scandal involving vice chairman, Jay Y. Lee, who appeared in a Seoul court yesterday. He was facing charges that included bribing ousted president, Park Geun-hye.

The global memory chip leader said first-quarter operating profit was likely 9.9 trillion won (€8.2bn), compared with an average forecast of 9.4tn won from a Reuters survey of analysts. Revenue rose 0.4%, to 50tn won, just ahead of forecasts.