Samsung targets 33 pct sales growth in Vietnam as phone business thrives

South Korean conglomerate Samsung expects that its strong smartphone business will boost sales in Vietnam by 33 percent this year, Yonhap reported.

Four subsidiaries of the tech giant, Samsung Electronics, Samsung Display Co., Samsung Electro-Mechanics Co. and Samsung SDI Co. which is a battery producer, are targeting combined sales of $60 billion this year, up 33 percent from 2016.

The units also aim to raise their export value by 25 percent to $50 billion, Samsung Vietnam General Director Han Myoung-sup told Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc at a Tuesday meeting.

Samsung, the world’s largest cellphone maker, last month posted its biggest quarterly net profit in more than three years after shrugging off the debacle over exploding Galaxy Note 7 batteries, AFP reported. A company statement said its January-March net profit jumped 46 percent from a year ago to $6.7 billion.

 

 

Samsung targets 33 pct sales growth in Vietnam as phone business thrives

Samsung reveals Galaxy Note 7 phone explosions caused by defective batteries

Its business in Vietnam has been driven by robust sales of its latest flagship phones Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8 Plus, which sales have reached five million units worldwide in less than a month.

Samsung Electronics operates two cellphone plants in the northern provinces of Bac Ninh and Thai Nguyen, which produce around half of all cellphones that Samsung supplies to the global market.

Cellphones contribute to more than 80 percent of exports by the Samsung units in Vietnam, which accounted for 23 percent of Vietnam’s total overseas shipments last year, making it the dominant exporter from the Southeast Asian country.

The units employed 149,000 staff members as of the end of April, according to Yonhap.