Samsung reports 23% drop in Q3 net profit

South Korea's Samsung Electronics announced Friday its third-quarter net profit fell 23 percent year-on-year because of weakness at its display unit amid a global economic slowdown. Samsung, the world's biggest technology firm in terms of revenue, said net profit for July to September fell to 3.442 trillion won ($3.086 billion) from 4.455 trillion a year earlier. The company, the world's largest maker of memory chips and flat-screen displays, had recorded a net profit of 3.506 trillion won in the second quarter. Third-quarter operating profit was 4.252 trillion won, down 12.6 percent, and revenue was 41.273 trillion, up 2.6 percent from a year earlier. Those figures were in line with the firm's earnings guidance issued earlier this month. Samsung's strong performance in the telecoms sector helped compensate for weakness in flat panels. The company said its telecoms businesses achieved record quarterly sales of 14.9 trillion won, up 37 percent from the previous year, with growth mainly driven by strong sales of Galaxy smartphones. Operating profit for the businesses also hit a record 2.52 trillion won. Samsung vice president Robert Yi said in a statement the company achieved a solid quarterly performance despite the economic slowdown in developed markets, thanks partly to strong smartphone sales. The company said it expected sales of mobile devices to stay strong and flat-panel TV shipments to rise in the fourth quarter. But Yi said that in light of global uncertainty, "we cannot rule out the possibility of demand growth slowing compared to previous years."