Korean manufacturing giant Samsung saw total operating profit fall to 1.78 trillion won (£965m) in the fourth quarter, down 14 per cent from 2.07 trillion won (£1.1bn) in the previous three months.

The drop is attributed to sharp decline in the price of memory chips due to global oversupply, but was partly offset by strong sales of flat screen panels and mobile handsets.

Total revenue for the period increased by 11 per cent to 17.48 trillion won (£9.8bn), up from 15.69 trillion won (£8.5bn) the previous year, and a 5 per cent rise on the preceding quarter.

Samsung makes both DRam chips for PCs and Nand chips for digital cameras, mobile phones and music players.