LG Electronics reported its biggest quarterly profit in five years on improvements in its once-ailing smartphone business.
Operating profit during the April-June period was 606 billion won, up from 26.5 percent a year earlier. This was the biggest quarterly profit since the 851 billion won reported in the third quarter of 2009.
Revenue during the second quarter was 15.37 trillion won, an increase of 0.9 percent year-on-year, the company said.
"Our smartphones sold strongly in target markets," it said in a statement. LG shipped 14 million smartphones during the latest period, a quarterly record. Thanks to that, profit at its handset division was a reported 85.9 billion won from an 8.8 billion won operating loss the previous quarter.
"Despite increased spending on marketing activities, LG fared very well. We saw a meteoric rise in the United States in profit for smartphones. Thanks to our diversified product portfolio, we are positive about the outlook in the second half," said LG.
LG's Home Entertainment company saw steady performance with second-quarter revenues of KRW 5.09 trillion (USD 4.94 billion), a 3 percent increase quarter-over-quarter and almost unchanged from the same quarter 2013. Operating profit was increased by 64.9 percent from the same quarter last year as a result of better product mix and lower fixed costs. LG says that demand for Ultra HD TVs in key markets will continue to drive LCD TV revenue growth. The B2B market, led by monitors and digital signage, is also expected to contribute to LG's growth in this segment.
The LG Mobile Communications company shipped a record-high 14.5 million smartphones in the second quarter, a 20 percent increase year-over-year with LTE products accounting for more than one-third of all LG smartphones sold this year. As a result, sales increased 16 percent from the same period last year to KRW 3.62 trillion (USD 3.51 billion), the highest since the first quarter of 2010. The mobile division's operating profit of KRW 85.9 billion (USD 83.4 million) in the second quarter put an end to three consecutive quarters of losses. Much of the success was due to the initial popularity of the LG G3 in the Korean market and strong sales of L SeriesIII smartphones. LG plans to continue its global rollout of the G3 and introduce more mass tier products in the second half, including variations of the LG G3, such as the recently announced G3 Beat, and additional L Series models.
The home appliances and air-conditioning divisions also proved strong reporting a respective 97.8 billion won and 164 billion won in operating profits for the quarter.
LG said it will spend more for research and development (R&D) on market-leading products and technologies, and to find new growth engines.
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