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January 25, 2011, 1:02 AM EST
By Jun Yang and Jungmin Hong
(Updates with comment from analyst in fourth paragraph.)
Jan. 25 (Bloomberg) -- SK Telecom Co., South Korea’s largest mobile-phone operator, reported fourth-quarter profit climbed 48 percent, helped by demand from smartphone users.
Net income rose to 361.4 billion won ($323 million) from 244.2 billion won a year earlier, the Seoul-based company said in a statement today. That compares with the 405.4 billion won average of 13 analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg in the past four weeks.
The phone company benefited from surging demand for handsets such as Samsung Electronics Co.’s Galaxy S that let users connect to the Internet and download applications. Smartphone subscribers surged to 3.92 million by the end of last year, SK said.
“Revenue increased thanks to smartphones,” Choi Nam Kon, an analyst at Tong Yang Securities Inc. in Seoul, said before the announcement. “In the first quarter also, profit won’t be too bad unless marketing competition gets too heated.”
SK Telecom rose 0.6 percent to 169,000 won as of 11:21 a.m. in Seoul trading, while the benchmark Kospi index climbed 0.9 percent.
Operating profit rose 2.3 percent to 453.1 billion won on sales of 3.17 trillion won.
--Editors: Suresh Seshadri, Terje Langeland, Young-Sam Cho
To contact the reporter on this story: Jun Yang in Seoul at jyang180@bloomberg.net Jungmin Hong in Seoul at jhong47@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Young-Sam Cho at ycho2@bloomberg.net
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(Updates with comment from analyst in fourth paragraph.)
Jan. 25 (Bloomberg) -- SK Telecom Co., South Korea’s largest mobile-phone operator, reported fourth-quarter profit climbed 48 percent, helped by demand from smartphone users.
Net income rose to 361.4 billion won ($323 million) from 244.2 billion won a year earlier, the Seoul-based company said in a statement today. That compares with the 405.4 billion won average of 13 analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg in the past four weeks.
The phone company benefited from surging demand for handsets such as Samsung Electronics Co.’s Galaxy S that let users connect to the Internet and download applications. Smartphone subscribers surged to 3.92 million by the end of last year, SK said.
“Revenue increased thanks to smartphones,” Choi Nam Kon, an analyst at Tong Yang Securities Inc. in Seoul, said before the announcement. “In the first quarter also, profit won’t be too bad unless marketing competition gets too heated.”
SK Telecom rose 0.6 percent to 169,000 won as of 11:21 a.m. in Seoul trading, while the benchmark Kospi index climbed 0.9 percent.
Operating profit rose 2.3 percent to 453.1 billion won on sales of 3.17 trillion won.
--Editors: Suresh Seshadri, Terje Langeland, Young-Sam Cho
To contact the reporter on this story: Jun Yang in Seoul at jyang180@bloomberg.net Jungmin Hong in Seoul at jhong47@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Young-Sam Cho at ycho2@bloomberg.net
Business | Christians | Coupons | Discussions | Gamers
Legal | Politics | Sports | Teens | Webmasters