Корпорация Samsung Electronics установила новые рекорды прибыли по итогам IV квартала и 2017 года благодаря высокому спросу на микросхемы, однако операционная прибыль подразделения по производству смартфонов в октябре-декабре немного сократилась. Об этом сообщается в официальных пресс-релизах южнокорейского техногиганта, опубликованных сегодня.
Кроме того, Samsung одобрил сплит акций 50 к 1, поскольку "высокая цена акций стала препятствием для потенциальных инвесторов", говорится в пресс-релизе. Эксперты рынка связывают такой шаг с желанием руководства чеболя избавиться от чрезмерной концентрации акций в руках крупных зарубежных инвестиционных фондов типа американского Elliott, начинающих диктовать свои условия, которые чрезвычайно выгодны акционерам, но ведущие к сокращению инвестиций в перспективные направления. А это никак не может положительно отразиться на судьбе корпорации в долгосрочной перспективе. Поэтому руководство конгломерата стремится найти оптимальный баланс между интересами акционеров и возможностью устойчивого развития.
Чистая прибыль Samsung в IV квартале подскочила на 42%, до 12,26 триллионов южнокорейских вон ($11,4 млрд) с 7,09 триллиона вон за тот же период 2016 года.
Полученная операционная прибыль Samsung Electronics увеличилась на 2/3 относительно того же периода 2016 года - 15,15 триллионов вон, что выше ожидавшихся в предварительной отчётности 15,1 триллионов вон.
Выручка Samsung Electronics в октябре-декабре увеличилась до 65,98 триллионов вон с 53,33 триллионов вон годом ранее.
По итогам 2017 года в целом электронное подразделение конгломерата Samsung получило 53,65 триллионов вон операционной прибыли, на 83% больше, чем в 2016 году, а выручка достигла 239,58 триллионов вон.
Операционная прибыль подразделения IT & Mobile Communications, которое производит смартфоны, снизилась с 2,50 до 2,42 триллионв вон. Samsung объясняет такую динамику возросшими расходами на рекламу и маркетинг.
За два последних года цены на два основных типа чипов памяти (DRAM и NAND), в производстве которых Samsung является лидером, выросли более чем вдвое, свидетельствуют данные DRAMeXchange. На этом фоне вклад подразделения по производству микросхем (Device Solutions) в годовую операционную прибыль составил около 35 триллионов вон, или почти 2/3.
По оценкам Nomura, мировой рынок чипов памяти вырастет в 2018 году на 30%, до $159 млрд, после скачка почти на 70% в 2017 году.
Samsung ожидает увеличения поставок чипов DRAM на 20%, NAND - на 40% в текущем году. В прошлом году корпорация вложила в развитие это бизнеса 43,4 триллионов вон - максимальную сумму в своей истории.
В ходе торгов в Сеуле 31 января цена акций Samsung Electronics поднималась почти на 9%. За последние 12 месяцев капитализация ведущего электронного техгогиганта увеличилась на 28%, превысив $300 миллиардов.
На следующей неделе ожидается решение апелляционной инстанции по делу "наследника Samsung" - внука основателя Samsung Group и фактического главы Samsung Electronics в последние годы Ли Джэ-ёна (Lee Jae-yong). В августе он был приговорён к 5-ти годам тюрьмы якобы за взятки ближайшей подруги экс-президента Южной Кореи. В декабре прокуратура в рамках апелляции потребовала увеличить срок до 12 лет. Сам Ли-младший свою вину категорически отрицает.
Сегодня же топ-менеджмент Samsung обнародовал план стратегического развития конгломерата на ближайшую перспективу, о чём стало известно в ходе специальной телеконференции.
Приоритетом становятся новые 10-nm чипы памяти, процессоры Exynos с модулями NPU для работы с программами искусственного интеллекта, складные OLED-панели для мобильных устройств новых форм-факторов, а также бытовая техника со встроенными интеллектуальными функциями, объединённая в единую локальную сеть Smart Home ("умный дом").
With record-high earnings, Samsung fixated on AI chips, foldable phones
Bolstered by an all-time high operating profit of 53 trillion won (US$49.6 million) in 2017, Samsung Electronics’ top management displayed an upbeat mood for the launches of new innovative products, including chips that support artificial intelligence and foldable organic light-emitting display smartphones, this year during a conference call on Jan. 31.
After announcing that it posted 239 trillion won in consolidated sales and 53 trillion won in operating profit last year, the South Korean tech giant vowed to earn a larger profit this year with upcoming flagship products featuring technological advancements.
According to the plan, Samsung will launch foldable smartphones with OLED panels and Exynos chips that are enhanced with neural processing units that support AI applications this year.
“Samsung will continue to make differentiating points by launching cutting-edge products including foldable smartphones this year,” an executive at Samsung Electronics said during the call.
An official from its subsidiary Samsung Display added that the display unit is developing a variety of applications of foldable displays in order to meet customers’ demand.
“The company is preparing for a new production line for foldable OLED panels,” the official said. “But nothing’s confirmed about when to begin operation.”
Samsung will also introduce Exynos application processors that adopt NPUs for larger data processing in digital devices that provide AI functions, and other new NPU-adopted chips specialized for connected vehicles and consumer electronics, the company said.
“We expect AI technologies to spread from mobile devices to consumer electronics and vehicles starting 2019,” an official said. “Responding to the trend, the company will launch Exynos processors that support facial recognition and intelligent image processing functions this year, and further introduce exclusive NPUs for other electronics and automobiles.”
As an outlook for the memory market this year, Samsung’s biggest cash cow, the company expects stable supply and demand conditions to continue due to strong demand for server products and trends toward high-specification mobile products.
The company plans to increase the competitiveness of DRAM products by expanding its 10-nanometer-class process migration at its fabs. With NAND flash chips, the firm is to focus on supplying profitability-oriented products, while continuing to expand its 64-layer migration.
However, Samsung announced its investments for this year would decrease from last year’s.
Samsung reported the annual investment in facilities stood at 43.4 trillion won, which breaks down to 27.3 trillion won in semiconductor and 13 trillion won in display.
“The investment was larger than before due to construction of the new Pyeongtaek fab, expansion of the foundry process lines and OLED facilities last year,” said Robert Yi, executive vice president for investor relations at Samsung Electronics. “Although our capital expenditure for 2018 has not yet been finalized, we expect the total amount to decrease on a year-on-year basis.”
According to the regulatory filing, Samsung’s fourth quarter net profit came at 12.25 trillion won, up from 7.08 trillion won a year earlier. For the whole of 2017, the net profit reaches 42.18 trillion won, up 85.6 percent from 2016.
The operating profit also broke records, by reaching 15.15 trillion won in the fourth quarter and 53.65 trillion won for the whole year.
Sales rose 23.7 percent to 65.9 trillion won in the last three months of 2017 from a year earlier, also marking a quarterly record. For all of 2017, sales came to 239.5 trillion won.
Semiconductor businesses were undoubtedly the scene-stealer, by accounting for 65.6 percent of its total operating profit in the fourth quarter at 35.2 trillion won.
Samsung Electronics attributed the strong performance to robust chip demand and increased sales of flexible organic light-emitting diode panels.
The tech giant said that the IT and Mobile Communications division in charge smartphones posted an operating profit of 11.83 trillion won in 2017, the highest since 2014.
What’s behind Samsung’s massive share split plan?
On the same day of announcing a record operating profit of 53 trillion won (US$49.6 billion) for last year, South Korean tech giant Samsung Electronics surprised the market on Jan. 31 by unveiling the first-ever share split plan aimed at “enhancing shareholder value.”
The landmark decision by the company’s board was widely welcomed by the market, causing the share price to surge as high as 8 percent in the morning.
The plan will make Samsung Electronics “more accessible” for investors and provide dividends to a “wider range of investors” from 2018, the firm explained.
It is also expected to add both liquidity and marketability to the company’s stock, contributing to enhancing corporate value in the long term, the company added.
Other than Samsung’s rationale, experts said the decision has somewhat exposed the company’s management strategy, or what it had been concerned about.
Pointing out the percentage of foreign ownership - 52% - the decision was likely made to disperse the growing power, or the voice, by some specific investors with a large sum of shares, such as Elliott.
“Samsung Electronics’ shares have been too expensive for individual investors to buy, making it only accessible for a limited group of investors such as hedge funds overseas,” said Park Ju-gun, founder and president of CEOScore, a local corporate tracker.
“By splitting shares, and making it more accessible to as many as possible, it could prevent some specific group from raising voices and tell Samsung what to do. So, in respect of protecting its management right, the decision could effectively block possible intervention for a while,” he said.
The decision has given a peak into Samsung’s management direction, according to Doh Hyun-woo, an analyst at NH Research Center.
Rumors have circulated that Samsung has decided to play aggressive and focus on increasing market competitiveness” rather than “profits,” as it invests heavily in DRAM compared to last year.
The share split decision reflects how Samsung is determined to further raise its stock value. Samsung is likely to expand shareholder-friendly programs and in order to do that it should keep its profit high, he said in his report.
But does the decision have anything to do with Samsung’s transition scenario or a verdict scheduled next Monday for the tech giant’s heir who has already spent a year in jail?
Experts, even chaebol critics, disagreed, saying that linking such shareholder-friendly plans with the timing of Lee Jae-yong’s fate at the court on Feb. 5 is absurd.
“It is not right to exaggerate on the motives of Samsung’s plan, but we need to keep an eye on Samsung’s (transition plan) in the future,” said Chung Sun-sup, CEO of Chaebul.com, another corporate tracker in Seoul.
“Nominal value of Samsung C&T is 100 won and if splitting Samsung Electronics share 50-to-1, its nominal value also becomes 100 won, as well,” he said.
Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong holds 17.08 percent in Samsung C&T, which holds 4.8 percent of shares in Samsung Electronics.
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