Samsung Electronics Co estimated an operating profit of 8.3 trillion won ($7.8 billion) for the last quarter of 2013, the company said on Tuesday.
The estimated figure for the three months ended December was down 6.1 per cent from the same period last year, Yonhap news agency reported. It was an 18.3-per-cent decrease from the record profits in the third quarter of 2013.
Sales for the fourth quarter hit 59 trillion won, up 5.24 per cent compared to a year earlier.
Market observers put the reduced profits down to slower growth in high-end smartphone sales and higher marketing and wage costs.
Total 2013 sales by the world’s largest maker of mobile phones, televisions and memory chips, are expected to reach an all-time high of 228 trillion won, up more than 13 per cent from the year before, Yonhap reported.