Samsung Electronics profit slips

Seoul: The world´s biggest smartphone maker, Samsung Electronics, reported first-quarter net profits down just three percent on Wednesday, as the coronavirus pandemic dampened consumer demand, but warned of further falls to come.

Net profits in the January-to-March period were 4.88 trillion won ($4 billion), down 3.1 percent from a year earlier, the company said in a statement.

The first-quarter performance was "partially due to effects of COVID-19", Samsung said in a statement.

And it expects weaker results in the April-June period, it said, adding that "uncertainties driven by COVID-19 will persist" into the second half.

The firm is the flagship subsidiary of the giant Samsung Group, by far the largest of the family-controlled conglomerates known as "chaebols" that dominate business in the world´s 12th-largest economy.

The figures come as the coronavirus pandemic wreaks havoc across the world economy -- earlier this month Samsung had operations suspended at 11 overseas assembly lines -- with expectations rife of a looming global recession.

In Q2, it warned: "Overall earnings are likely to decline from the previous quarter because COVID-19 will significantly impact demand for several of its core products".

Memory demand "is expected to remain robust for servers and PCs as more people work from home", it said.

But "sales and profits of set products business, including smartphones and TVs, are expected to decline significantly as COVID-19 affects demand and leads to store and plant closures globally".

Woody Oh, a researcher at Strategy Analytics, said the first-quarter results showed only "a slight impact" from the virus outbreak, which emerged in China and spread to the US, Europe and India -- Samsung´s key markets.

"But the real impact will show in the second quarter," he said, adding almost all companies will report their worst results in April-June as the effects of the pandemic become clear.