South Korea's Samsung Electronics Tuesday predicted a record quarterly operating profit of 3.5 billion dollars in July-September.

The company, the world's top maker of memory chips and flat TV screens, said in a statement it estimated consolidated operating profit for the third quarter at 4.1 trillion won (3.5 billion dollars).

The estimate would exceed its previous record quarterly operating profit of 4.0 trillion won in the first quarter in 2004.

It compares with 1.48 trillion in the third quarter of 2008.

Consolidated sales for the third quarter are estimated at 36 trillion won, up from 30.27 trillion a year earlier, the company said in a statement.

Samsung was providing earnings guidance ahead of its official quarterly earnings announcement at the end of this month.