South Korea's Financial News newspaper, citing unnamed sources, said earlier talks between the two firms are in final stages and that Samsung plans to complete the acquisition by the year-end.

"The report from Financial news on acquisition of the French audio equipment maker, Focal, is not true," Samsung, which is battling a crisis with the discontinuation of the Galaxy Note 7 smartphones, said in a statement, without elaborating further.

Focal could not be immediately reached for comment.

(Reporting by Se Young Lee; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)