Samsung posts biggest quarterly net profit since 2013

Seoul : South Korean tech giant Samsung Electronics posted its biggest quarterly net profit for more than three years Thursday after shrugging off the fallout from the exploding Galaxy Note 7 battery debacle.

The results, driven by strong demand for its memory chips, represented the company's second-largest ever quarterly profit.

Shares in the firm -- the flagship subsidiary of the sprawling Samsung Group -- have climbed in recent months as rising expectations overcame the smartphone recall last year and its vice-chairman going on trial for bribery.

It also formally dropped a reform plan Thursday that would have seen it split in two and could have made the group's opaque structure more transparent.

Net profit for the January-March period amounted to 7.68 trillion won ($6.7 billion), up 46 percent from a year ago, Samsung Electronics said in a statement. 

It was its biggest quarterly net profit since the record third quarter of 2013. 

Operating profit jumped 48 percent from a year ago to 9.89 trillion won -- also the biggest since the third quarter of 2013. 

A breakdown of the figures showed the firm's semiconductor business made its largest-ever operating profit of 6.3 trillion won.

Samsung -- the world's largest maker of both mobile phones and memory chips -- provides its chips to other companies including archrival Apple. 

"The first quarter earnings were bolstered by solid performance of our component-making business that enjoyed strong sales thanks to favourable memory chip and display panel prices," the firm said in a statement. 

But the firm's mobile business saw sales and profit slow, with operating profits of 2.07 trillion won, down by 47 percent from a year ago. 

Samsung suffered an embarrassing recall last year of its Galaxy Note 7 smartphone over exploding batteries, which cost the firm billions of dollars and dealt a blow to its reputation. 

It has just launched a new flagship device, the S8 smartphone, to positive reviews and strong orders.

Shares in Samsung Electronics -- South Korea's largest firm by value -- rose as much as 2.8 percent to 2.2 million won in morning trade on the Seoul stock market.