Seoul  - Samsung Electronics Co's profit more than tripled in the third quarter to hit a record 3.72 trillion won (3.14 billion dollars), the company said Friday.

Rising prices for memory chips and robust demand for televisions and mobile phones helped the South Korean company achieve its best quarterly net income ever.

Sales rose 29.1 per cent to 24.86 trillion won from the same period last year.

Samsung is the world's largest manufacturer of memory chips and liquid crystal display televisions and number two in the mobile phone market.

The firm said in a statement that it expected solid results in the fourth quarter because of strong demand for consumer electronics. It added, however, that the strengthening of the won and higher marketing costs would probably reduce profits compared with the third quarter.

The company also predicted that the recovery of the world economy would continue in 2010.

The semiconductor business returned to profit in the second quarter after losses in the previous quarter, helped by cost-cutting measures and rising prices for computer memory chips and flash memory. (dpa)