Samsung has released its financial projections for the final quarter of 2015, suggesting small but definite profit growth year on year. The South Korean company said today that it expects it made about 6.1 trillion won ($5.1 billion) in operating profit on sales of around 53 trillion won ($44 billion), compared to profits of 5.29 trillion won and sales of 52.7 trillion won in the fourth quarter of 2014. If these latest figures are confirmed when final earnings for this quarter are released later this month, it will mean the company has had its second successive quarter of year-on-year growth.

It's still a very fragile recovery

This follows a nearly two-year fall in operating profits before the company posted its first profit growth in October last year. Increased revenue was driven mainly through sales of semiconductors and panel segments (and, to a lesser extent, increased sales of mid-tier smartphones), but the company's recovery is far from assured. According to a report from The Wall Street Journal, Samsung's executives are still sounding cautious. "The global economy will continue to see tepid growth while uncertainty will grow in emerging markets," co-CEO Kwon Oh-hyun reportedly warned employees in a New Year's speech.