Samsung Electronics 1st Korean firm to top W100 tril. in quarterly operating profit

Samsung Electronics on Thursday estimated 107.4 trillion won ($80.28 billion) in operating profit for the third quarter, becoming the first Korean company to surpass 100 trillion won in quarterly operating profit. In a regulatory filing, the company said its third-quarter operating profit and revenue are each estimated at 107.4 trillion won and 195 trillion won. If the figures are finalized when the company announces its full earnings results later this month, they would represent year-on-year increases of 782.5 percent in operating profit and 126.6 percent in sales. The operating profit surpassed brokerages’ consensus estimate of 106.64 trillion won, though sales fell slightly short of the 200.64 trillion won forecast. The earnings are particularly significant as they exceeded expectations despite concerns that the Korean won's sharp appreciation against the U.S. dollar from the previous quarter would weigh on profitability. Samsung Electronics does not provide earnings estimates by business division in its preliminary guidance, but memory chips are widely seen as the main driver behi