[THE INVESTOR] Samsung S1 President Yook Hyun-pyo on Aug. 31 dismissed market speculation that Samsung Group could sell off the security service firm any time soon as part of its ongoing business revamp ahead of the pending leadership transition to a new generation.

“We have 530,000 subscribers, with our 700,000 systems being installed nationwide. Selling the company would hurt our customer trust seriously,” he was quoted as saying by a local news outlet.

Samsung, the nation’s largest conglomerate, has sold off less profitable, non-core businesses such as defense and chemicals since last year. S1 has also been frequently cited for a possible sell-off.

Currently, Samsung SDI and Samsung Life Insurance own 11.03 percent and 5.34 percent stake in the company, respectively.

“There are some sell-off cases of security firms but considering customer trust I think that is not the right decision,” the president said. “I don’t care about the sell-off rumor that is baseless.”

By Lee Ji-yoon ()