Home
Tv
Tv News
LG Reports Highest First Quarter Profit Since 2009 as TV Earnings Jump

LG Reports Highest First-Quarter Profit Since 2009 as TV Earnings Jump

By Reuters | Updated: 26 April 2018 16:31 IST

South Korea's LG Electronics reported its highest first-quarter operating profit since 2009, as record profits from its TV business more than made up for another loss for the mobile division.

January-March profit for the world's second-largest TV maker climbed 20 percent from a year ago to KRW 1.1 trillion ($1.02 billion or roughly Rs. 6,800 crores), in line with the company's guidance this month.

Revenue rose 3.2 percent from a year ago to KRW 15.1 trillion (roughly Rs. 93,000 crores).

The TV division posted a 76.5 percent rise in profit to a quarterly record of KRW 577 billion, with an operating margin of 14 percent, led by sales of high-end television sets, including those with organic light-emitting diode (OLED) screens.

First-quarter operating profit for the appliances division rose 8.2 percent from a year earlier to 553 billion won, on sales of high-margin products such as its premium-label refrigerators and washers.

The mobile division reported a 136 billion won loss, its fourth consecutive quarterly loss and smaller than the previous quarter's 213 billion won loss. LG did not release a flagship model during the quarter and focused on cost-cutting.

During the quarter, LG raised prices for washing machines sold in the United States by about $50 (roughly Rs. 3,300) per machine, or 4 percent to 8 percent, after the imports were hit by a 20 percent tariff imposed by Washington in January.

LG decided to absorb part of the cost of the tariff on imports, levied at a time when construction was well underway to build a new factory in the United States that will begin producing washers in late 2018.

© Thomson Reuters 2018

Comments

For the latest tech news and reviews, follow Gadgets 360 on X, Facebook, WhatsApp, Threads and Google News. For the latest videos on gadgets and tech, subscribe to our YouTube channel. If you want to know everything about top influencers, follow our in-house Who'sThat360 on Instagram and YouTube.