Samsung Biologics Co. said Wednesday its third-quarter net profit increased 10 percent from a year earlier, driven by record sales. Net profit for the July-September period came to 264.5 billion won (US$191.3 million), compared with 240.4 billion won a year ago, the company said in a regulatory filing. Its operating income rose 6.3 percent on-year to 338.6 billion won and sales jumped 14.8 percent to a record high of 1.18 trillion won for the third quarter. The earnings beat market expectations. The average estimate of net profit by analysts stood at 251.3 billion won, according to a survey by Yonhap Infomax, the financial data firm of Yonhap News Agency. Samsung Biologics attributed its strong performance to new contract development and manufacturing organization deals with global biopharmaceutical firms. So far this year, the Korean company has secured nine deals worth a combined 4.36 trillion won with global big pharmas, including the latest $1.24 billion deal with an Asia-based company. Samsung Biol ogics said it is raising the guidance on the yearly growth of its revenue to 15-20 percent for this year from 10-15 percent on the ramp-up of the operation of its fourth manufacturing plant and favorable currency exchange rates. Source: Yonhap News Agency