LG says second-quarter profit likely up 16.1 per cent

SEOUL: South Korea’s LG on Friday said operating profit likely rose 16.1 per cent in April-June, albeit weighed down by higher marketing expenses for new products in its TV, smartphone and appliance divisions, analysts said.

The world’s second-biggest television set maker behind by Samsung estimated profit at 771 billion won ($691.11 million), versus an 821 billion won average of 10 analyst forecasts compiled by Reuters.

The estimate comes after LG posted its highest profit in nine years in January-March due to robust sales of high-profit-margin premium TVs. That in turn came after LG ended 2017 with a 33 per cent share of the high-end TV market, pulling away from Samsung.

Revenue likely climbed 3.2 per cent from the same period a year earlier to 15 trillion won, LG said in a regulatory filing. That compared with analysts’ 15.5 trillion won estimate.

LG did not disclose further details of April-June operations and will announce full results at the end of July.

Earlier in the day, Samsung reported a preliminary quarterly profit increase of 5.2 per cent to 14.8 trillion won, its slowest growth in over a year as weak smartphone sales blunted the impact of record chip earnings.

LG shares closed down 2.7 per cent on Friday after the earnings guidance, compared with a 0.7 per cent rise in the broader market.