Emma Okoji
Samsung has announced that it expects its fourth quarter (Q4) 2016 operating profit to increase 50 per cent year-on-year, with brisk sales of chips and displays offsetting losses from its global recall of the Galaxy Note 7 in October.
The world’s largest smartphone maker forecast operating profit for the quarter would hit $7.72 billion, its highest since Q3 2013, on revenue estimated at KRW53 trillion, which is down slightly from Q4 2015.
For the full year 2016, Samsung predicted operating profit will increase nearly 11 per cent year-on-year to KRW29.2 trillion, with revenue rising marginally to KRW201.5 trillion.
Samsung did not provide any additional detail on its 2016 results but it will release official earnings figures later this month.
Analysts said a rebound in memory chip prices and healthy sales of flat-panel displays helped Samsung make up for losses from the Note 7 debacle, Yonhap reported.
Samsung is expected to announce the final results of its investigation into the Note 7 this month. The company said in November it is working with authorities in its home market and the US.
The South Korea-headquartered company axed the Galaxy Note 7 in early October last year, after several devices caught fire. While the vendor initially blamed a faulty batch of batteries from another Samsung unit (Samsung SDI) for the problem and recalled 2.5 million units, it conceded defeat after some initial replacement devices featuring batteries from its other supplier, China’s Amperex Technology, were affected by the same problem.
Technoserve Launches New Campaign
Technoserve has launched a new campaign called “Call for Applications” which encourages communities to express interest in a Sunlight Water Centre. The initiative was said to have been conceptualised to provide safe, treated water for their communities and empowers local women from the community to be entrepreneurs
“Clean water access is a major health problem in Nigeria. The burden of limited access to clean water falls mostly on women who are typically responsible for fetching water, traveling substantial distances, waiting in line; purifying it to make it usable and/or drinkable; for other domestic uses,” the company said in a statement.
According to the statement, Sunlight Water Center (SWC) is a ready-to-operate business that sells water and other services and products under a commercial business model.
The initiative, which is done in partnership with Unilever Plc, provides safe water at affordable rates and reduces the time and money women spend on collecting and treating water, thereby enabling them to instead pursue other income-generating activities and save and invest resources in their families and communities.
The SWC model is designed to be fully sustainable as each site generates profits, to cover on-going costs and repay the initial capital investment, which can then be reinvested in growing the network.
Technoserve noted that eight pilot network of water centres around Abuja spanning Niger, Kaduna, Nasarawa and FCT regions, have already secured funding to build eight more centres.
“Our long-term vision is to create a franchise network of 1,000 centres across Nigeria and other parts of Africa, reaching hundreds of thousands of water consumers,” the organisers said.
“Women entrepreneurs who have been consistently running these centres for over 10 months contribute greatly to the success of the centres. Each entrepreneur undergoes a rigorous assessment and interview process before selection to own and manage every aspect of the business,” they added.
The organisers also noted that the ideal candidates for the project should possess previous experience running a shop or business, negotiating skills, honesty, creativity, and be a natural community organiser.
Technoserve also stressed that in terms of criteria for consideration of a SWC franchise, communities must be located in a well-populated Small Town or Semi-urban community (not a small village), face serious water shortage problems, be willing to contribute available community land which is centrally located, and easily accessible, and have quality women entrepreneurs to run and operate the center