South Korea’s electronics giant Samsung reported record quarterly profits on January 30th saying strong demand for memory chips and sales of high-end displays and components for the iPhone X helped drive revenues forward. The Board of Directors of the company approved a 50:1 stock split.

Samsung is the world’s largest memory chipmaker for smartphones.

Net income Attributable to the Shareholders of the Parent Company for the fourth-quarter rose significantly at 73.72 per cent to 12.02 trillion won from 6.92 trillion won in the same quarter last year.

Operating profit for the quarter was 15.15 trillion won, up 64.27 per cent from 9.22 trillion won in the previous year.  Samsung’s display business reported a 1.4 trillion won profit in the fourth quarter, up from 1.3 trillion won in the same period last year.

Samsung said that its Display Panel business, which manufactures OLED and LCD screens, saw increased shipments of OLED panels for premium smartphones, but profitability for LCD panels decreased due to weak seasonality, which dampened sales. Revenue jumped 23.71 per cent to 65.98 trillion won, from 53.33 trillion won in the prior year.

In its commentary, Samsung said that Samsung’s TV business will be affected by weak seasonality but is aiming to be profitable by expanding sales of premium products and pushing for the early release of new models.

The company said it believed the stock split will make investing in the company more accessible and provide dividends to a wider range of investors from 2018.

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