By Kim Yoo-chul
Leading global credit ratings agencies said Wednesday that they have no plans to adjust their assessment of Samsung Electronics because of the U.S. jury’s verdict against the Korean technology giant.
On Sunday, a nine-member U.S. jury ruled that Samsung must pay a more than $1 billion to Apple for infringing on the firm’s highly-controversial design patents.
According to Fitch Ratings, the loss should be seen as a one-off as it won’t be the case in other regions as well as going forward as recently witnessed in Korea and U.K. trials.
``We don’t foresee any abrupt deterioration in the Samsung’s credit metrics as reflected in its stable outlook,’’ Alvin Lim, an associate director at the ratings firm, told The Korea Times, Wednesday.
Fitch has affirmed Samsung Electronics’ Long-term Foreign- and Local-Currency Issuer Default Ratings (ID) at ``A plus’’ with a stable outlook, while it has also maintaining Samsung Electronics’ senior unsecured rating at ``A+.’’
``Samsung’s latest main models aren’t included so far on the injunction list for the latest verdict by the jurors in California, therefore the Samsung Galaxy S3 and Galaxy Note sales will not be impacted,’’ it said.
The patent dispute is still far from over as Samsung said it’s been preparing a major attack on Apple after its American rival releases devices that support advanced Long-Term Evolution (LTE) mobile technology, which has emerged as the industry’s new trend.
Inspired by the victory against Samsung, Apple requested an injunction against eight of the 21 Samsung devices that infringed on its patents. If accepted, Samsung could be forced to take those devices off the US market.
`` U.S. Federal Judge Lucy Koh is yet to make a final decision on this and Samsung will obviously appeal against the verdict if it remains the same, implying that this will drag on for at least an additional several months from now,’’ Lim said.
The view of the agency contrasts that of Moody’s Investors Service as it said the verdict is a credit negative for Samsung.
``The impact from this verdict could be more material in the near term if it leads to a ban on the sale of Samsung Electronics’ newer products in the United States market, and over the long term, if it ultimately undermines its competitiveness in the mobile segment,’’ Moody's Vice President and senior analyst Annalisa DiChiara was quoted as saying in a statement.
Moody’s is in line with Fitch, expecting that the ruling will only have a minimal impact on Samsung’s “A1” rating and stable outlook.
``Samsung has a diversified sales base in its product portfolio, with leading market positions in consumer electronics, semiconductors and display panels, which should help absorb any contraction in revenue from the mobile phone segment,’’ it said separately.
``As a major supplier for Apple, Samsung Electronics’ semiconductor business could gain from any increase in the sales of Apple’s mobile phones or tablets in the near term, but there is also a risk over the long term that Apple may reduce its dependence on Samsung for parts. If realized, this situation would have additional negative credit implications for Samsung,’’ DiChiara said.