Samsung Electronics (005930) on Friday posted its earnings guidance for the first quarter of 2013. The world’s No.1 smartphone vendor continued on its warpath last quarter as operating profit climbed more than 50% to approximately $7.7 billion, handily topping analysts’ estimates and setting a new first-quarter record. Revenue for the quarter was also up from roughly $40 billion in the first quarter last year to about $45.9 billion in Q1 2013. Samsung’s audited results will be posted in the coming weeks, and the company’s full press release follows below.

Samsung Electronics Announces Earnings Guidance for First Quarter 2013

(SEOUL–Korea Newswire) April 5, 2013 — Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. today announced its earnings guidance for the first quarter of 2013.

Consolidated sales: Approximately 52 trillion Korean won

(Range: 51 – 53 trillion Korean won)

Consolidated operating profit: Approximately 8.7 trillion Korean won

(Range: 8.5 – 8.9 trillion Korean won)

The above figures are consolidated earnings estimates based on K-IFRS

※ 2012 4Q and 2012 1Q consolidated figures based on K-IFRS are as follows

(in trillion won) / 2012.4Q / 2012.1Q

Sales / 56.06 / 45.27

Operating profit / 8.84 / 5.69

Disclosure regulations in South Korea do not allow earnings guidance to be provided as a range, therefore the official disclosure was made based on the median value as stated above.

The guidance is provided ahead of the full announcement of quarterly earnings results for the convenience of investors and media, before our external audit on the financial results of our headquarters, subsidiaries and affiliates is completed. Therefore, the above estimate may differ from the actual results.

The full earnings for the fourth quarter will be disclosed following the Board of Directors’ approval of the financial statements and quarterly reports.