Samsung forecasts first annual profit drop in three years
The world's biggest electronic company Samsung as predicted its first annual profit drop since 2011.
The South Korean smartphone maker forecast operating profit of 5.2 trillion Korean won (£3bn) for the three months to December, down from 8.3 trillion won a year earlier.
Despite this it beat an earlier estimate of 5 trillion won from analysts polled by Reuters.
The fourth-quarter figure would lead to a full-year operating profit of 24.9 trillion won (£14.9bn) down 32 per cent from a year earlier.
Samsung's smartphone business has suffered amid an increasingly competitive market in China, with rivals such as Xiaomi stealing market share.
Its improving semiconductor division, which develops memory chips and mobile processors, should help offset some of this pain.
The tech giant is expected to report its fourth-quarter earnings later this month.