Samsung Electronics posts $5.16b operating profit

SEOUL - Samsung Electronics, the world's largest maker of memory chips, televisions and flat screens, posted its fresh record high of operating profit in the first quarter, a regulatory filing showed Friday.

Consolidate operating profit reached a fresh record high of 5.85 trillion won ($5.16 billion) in the first quarter, up a whopping 98.42 percent from a year earlier, according to the regulatory filing. From three months before, the figure jumped 10.46 percent.

The results were larger than the company's preliminary estimate of 5.8 trillion won ($5.12 billion) announced earlier this month, and it topped the previous record high of 5.3 trillion won ($4.68 billion) tallied in the fourth quarter of 2011.

Sales expanded 22.4 percent on-year to 45.27 trillion won ($39.9 billion) in the three months ending March 31, and net profit surged 81.29 percent to 5.05 trillion won ($4.46 billion). The revenue results were slightly higher than an earlier estimate of 45 trillion won ($39.8 billion).