LG Electronics estimates Q1 profit surged

PanARMENIAN.Net - South Korea's LG Electronics Inc estimated on Friday, April 7 its first-quarter operating profit rose 82 percent to its highest in nearly eight years, handily beating market expectations on healthy sales of appliances and televisions, Reuters reports.

LG, the world's No. 2 television maker behind Samsung Electronics Co Ltd, said January-March operating profit was likely 922 billion won ($812.62 million), compared with an average forecast of 518 billion won from a Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S survey of 24 analysts and the highest since the second quarter of 2009.

Revenue for the quarter likely rose 9.7 percent to 14.7 trillion won, the firm said.

"Generally speaking I think the improved product mix in appliances and televisions and the company's efforts to sell high-end products lifted profits," HI Investment analyst Song Eun-jeong said.

Earlier in the day, Samsung estimated the January-March period will produce its best quarterly profit in more than three years, beating expectations and putting it on track for record annual earnings on the back of a memory chip super-cycle.

Though LG did not elaborate on its forecasts, analysts say LG's mobile business likely turned an operating loss for the eighth-straight quarter. Sales of its new G6 flagship smartphone began in March and likely will not provide meaningful contributions until the second quarter.