South Korea’s Samsung breaks sales, profit records

By Alex Jensen

SEOUL (AA) - Samsung Electronics announced record profits for the quarter ending June on Thursday.

The company revealed an operating profit of 14.1 trillion South Korean won ($12.67 billion).

Samsung also said its net profit soared 89 percent year-on-year to reach 11 trillion won ($9.88 billion) -- a trillion won higher than estimated by Yonhap Infomax.

Overall sales rose nearly 20 percent to a record 61 trillion won ($54.80 billion) during the same period thanks to strong demand for memory chips, mobile devices and display panels.

The South Korean tech giant achieved strong earnings despite leadership problems.

Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong is on trial for bribery and embezzlement linked to the corruption scandal that toppled ex-President Park Geun-hye while his father, Chairman Lee Kun-hee, has been hospitalized since 2014.

There is room for optimism if the upcoming Galaxy Note 8 performs well following the recall of its predecessor last year due to safety issues.