Samsung third quarter profit falls

Samsung Electronics Co., the world's top smartphone maker, said Thursday its net profit nearly halved in the third quarter from a year earlier, as its faltering smartphone business dragged down overall sales.
Net profit reached 4.22 trillion won (US$4.01 billion) in the July-September period, down 48.7% from 8.24 trillion won the previous year, the company said in a regulatory filing.
Operating profit plunged 60% on-year to 4.1 trillion won, from a record high of 10.1 trillion won in the same quarter of 2013, according to South Korea's News Agency (Yonhap).
Both the net and operating profit mark the lowest in three years for the Suwon-based company, since it logged 4.02 trillion won and 3.75 trillion won in the fourth and second quarter of 2011, respectively.
The net profit also represents a fourth consecutive quarterly decline, with the operating profit having slid for two straight quarters.
Sales came to 47.4 trillion won in the third quarter, down 19.6% from a year earlier.
The figures were in line with Samsung's earnings preview released earlier this month.