Samsung Elec says third-quarter profit likely up 79.8 percent, beating expectations

SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korean tech giant Samsung Electronics Co Ltd said on Wednesday its July-September operating profit likely leapt 79.8 percent from a year earlier, beating expectations and marking its first quarterly profit growth in eight quarters. Samsung, in a regulatory filing, estimated its third-quarter profit at 7.3 trillion won (4.13 billion pounds), compared with 6.7 trillion won tipped by a Thomson Reuters SmartEstimate poll of 30 analysts. The firm reported a 4.1 trillion won profit a year earlier. Samsung also expects its third-quarter revenue to have risen 7.5 percent from a year earlier to 51 trillion won. The firm will disclose full results in late October. (Reporting by Se Young Lee; Editing by Stephen Coates)