LG posts operating profit of over 1 trillion won for two quarters

LG Electronics has recorded an operating profit of over 1 trillion won for the two straight quarters for the first time. The Home Appliance & Air Solution business division of LG Electronics has widened its revenue gap with rival Whirlpool as consumers continued to open their wallet for high-end home appliance products.

LG Electronics said, in a preliminary earnings release for the second quarter released on Wednesday, it posted sales of 17.11 trillion won and an operating profit of 1.1128 trillion won. The tech company’s sales jumped a whopping 48.4 percent compared to the same period of last year, reporting the best second-quarter performance. This is the first time in 12 years since 2009 (1. 2438 trillion won) that the company’s operating profit exceeded the 1 trillion won in the second quarter. LG Electronics is expected to exceed 2 trillion won in half year operating profit for the first time with its Q2 operating profit reaching over 1 trillion won following Q1 (1.7673 trillion won).

The strong Q2 performance was driven by the company’s home appliance division. The industry estimates that the H&Q division recorded over 6 trillion won in sales and 600 billion won in operating profit. This is 1 trillion won higher than the Q2 sales of Whirlpool, which is competing with LG for the top spot in the global home appliance market. LG, which was ahead of Whirlpool by about 600 billion won in sales in Q1, further widened the gap with Whirlpool in Q2.

LG’s Home Entertainment division, which is in charge of its TV business, is expected to achieve over 4 trillion won in sales in Q2 for the first time in five years, backed by strong growth of OLED TV sales. Meanwhile, the company’s vehicle component solutions division recorded the Q2 sales of 1.9 trillion won, up by about 1 trillion won compared to the same period of last year.


will@donga.com