Samsung Electronics' European business registered steady declines in sales and the number of people employed between 2013 and 2015, a regular sustainability report from the company showed.
The proportion of total sales the South Korean company took from Europe fell from 23 per cent in 2013 to 19 per cent in 2015, while the region is one of the few in Samsung's global footprint to see staff numbers decline over the same period, the Korea Herald reported citing the company's 2015 sustainability report which was released over the weekend.
Sales in Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) -- a union of former USSR countries comprising Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Ukraine -- in 2015 were KRW38.6 trillion (€30.2 billion/$33.5 billion). Total global sales for the year hit KRW200.7 trillion, the Herald reported.
The newspaper also reported that Samsung Electronics' staff numbers in Europe and CIS markets fell to 15,487 in 2015 from 18,362 in 2013, as the vendor struggles against headwinds in the region that include a stagnating smartphone market.
In contrast, staff numbers in the U.S. and Korea were stable or increased, the Herald stated. In the broader southeast Asia region, staff numbers were almost twice as high in 2015 as they were in 2013, the paper added.
While a slowdown in sales in Europe and CIS is cause for concern at Samsung, the sustainability report shows that the company also registered overall declines in sales at its IT and mobile communications business between 2013 and 2015, the Pulse reported.
The proportion of sales generated by the business unit fell from 54 per cent in 2013 to 46 per cent in 2015. In contrast, the proportion of total sales contributed by Samsung's device solutions business increased from 14 per cent to 21 per cent over the same period, the Pulse noted.
Samsung's consumer electronics business, meanwhile, saw its proportion of total revenue increase slightly from 20 per cent in 2013 to 21 per cent in 2015, despite the slowdown in demand from Europe and CIS.
For more:
- see this Korea Herald report
- view this Pulse article
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