SEOUL - Samsung Electronics, the world's largest maker of memory chips, televisions and flat screens, said Friday its first-quarter net profit fell 30 percent from a year earlier due to slowing sales of flat panels and TVs.

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Consolidated net profit, including earnings from the company's affiliates, reached 2.78 trillion won ($2.6 billion) in the first quarter, down 30 percent from 3.99 trillion won the previous year, the South Korean company said in a statement.

Sales grew 7 percent on-year to 36.99 trillion won in the first three months of this year, but operating profit declined 33 percent to 2.95 trillion won. The figures were in line with a preliminary estimate announced by Samsung on April 7.

Semiconductor sales were strong during the January-March period, but sluggish demand in flat screens and TVs damped profit at Samsung's flat panel business and digital media division.

"Semiconductor sales fared well, but LCD and TV sales were not improving. Poor sales in flat panels and TVs have already been expected in the market," Im Jeong-jae, a Seoul-based fund manager at Shinhan BNP Paribas Asset Management, told Xinhua before the release.