South Korea's Samsung Electronics said yesterday it expected a sharp increase in first-quarter operating profit to 8.7 trillion won ($7.7 billion), up 52.9 per cent from the first three months of 2012.

Samsung, the world's largest technology firm by revenue, was giving earnings guidance before official results are made available later this month.

The January-March operating estimate comes after a record quarterly operating profit of 8.8 trillion won in the fourth quarter of last year.

Samsung profits soared in 2012, largely on the back of sales in the lucrative smartphone market. Sales in the first quarter of 2013 were expected to reach 52 trillion won, up 14.9 per cent from a year earlier, but down 7.2 per cent from the previous quarter.

The company is estimated to have sold 25 million smartphones each month this year, which puts its quarterly sales at over 70 million units, according to analysts. – TradeArabia News Service