| LG Electronics Inc. Wednesday posted a record-high quarterly net profit, thanks to strong sales of cellphones and flat-screen televisions. |
The world's third-largest manufacturer of mobile phones and flat screen TVs posted a global-basis operating profit of 1.13 trillion won ($903 million) for April-June, soundly beating a 988 billion won.
Company spokeswoman Judy Pae said the net profit figure was a quarterly record and sales during the quarter rose 17 percent to a record 8.48 trillion won from 7.23 trillion won a year earlier.
Profit at LG’s home-entertainment division, which makes TVs and DVD players, increased eightfold to 223.6 billion won. The median estimate from the Bloomberg survey predicted income of 104 billion won. Sales at the business, formed in December by combining LG’s display and media-product operations, rose 19 percent to 4.51 trillion won.
LG’s second-quarter mobile-phone shipments rose 8 percent to a record 29.8 million handsets, generating profit of 537.5 billion won, little changed from a year earlier. That compares with the 492 billion won income estimated in the Bloomberg survey. The company began sales of the touch-screen Arena phone in March and plans to offer the LG-GD910 “Touch Watch Phone” this month to spur sales.
The company said last month it aims to increase LCD TV shipments by 70 percent to 18 million units this year and overtake Sony as the second-biggest maker. Suwon, South Korea- based Samsung Electronics Co. is the largest. LG will continue to gain market share in LCD TVs in the second half, Henry Kim, an analyst at Citigroup Inc., wrote in a report in June. Tokyo- based Sony reports earnings on July 30.
Profit at the home-appliances division, which competes against products from Whirlpool Corp. and Electrolux AB, increased 76 percent to 180.7 billion won. Analysts in the survey projected income of 136 billion won.
Edited by Shin, Kirim
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