Samsung earnings guidance and LG preliminary earnings reveal profit drop in Q4 2018

Samsung and LG, two Korean giants today reported earnings guidance for the fourth quarter of 2018. Both the companies have reported drop in profits for the quarter. Samsung has reported revene of 59 trillion Korean won in Q4 2018, compared to 66 trillion Korean won a year ago, and an operating profit of 10.8 trillion Korean won, compared to 15.1 trillion Korean won YoY. Samsung blames difficult conditions in memory chips, weaker-than-expected demand from data centre customers adjusting inventories drove down chip prices. LG has reported KRW 15.8 trillion revenues in the fourth quarter of 2018, compared to KRW 16.9 trillion in the previous year, with an operating profit of KRW 75.3 billion, compared to KRW 366.8 billion, down 79.47% YoY. LG blames continued poor performance in mobile division, which has been posting losses since Q2 2017. Both Samsung and LG did not announce the performance of each business division. We should know the exact profit amount and division-wise results when the companies release their full earnings results later this month. Source 1, 2