KB News Desk
LG Electronics reported Thursday an operating profit of 1.58 trillion won ($1.1 billion) for the second quarter, up 147 percent from a year earlier, on revenue of 23.83 trillion won.
Both are second-quarter records.
They match the preliminary numbers the company put out on July 7 to within a few billion won. What Thursday’s disclosure added was the breakdown by division.
Home appliances cleared 7 trillion won in quarterly revenue for the first time, at 7.08 trillion won, and earned 685.9 billion won. That is a margin close to 10 percent.
The more notable figure is smaller. The vehicle solution unit, which sells infotainment and telematics hardware to automakers, earned 191.2 billion won on 3.03 trillion won, holding its margin above 6 percent for a second straight quarter, a level hard to sustain in a business where contracts run for years and prices typically fall annually.
LG now calls the unit a cash cow rather than a future bet.
HVAC and energy solutions earned 235.8 billion won on 2.73 trillion won, an 8.6 percent margin in peak air conditioner season. The TV and webOS division earned 219.4 billion won on 5.11 trillion won.
Part of the profit will not repeat. LG booked a refund of US tariffs paid on last year’s exports as one-off income without disclosing the amount; Seoul brokerages estimate 300 billion won or more. Even without it, profit topped the 1.02 trillion won consensus that preceded July 7.
Costs from an April voluntary retirement program cut the other way, also undisclosed. Profit fell 5.7 percent from the first quarter.
B2B sales reached 6.5 trillion won, up 5 percent, or 36 percent of revenue excluding LG Innotek. Subscription revenue rose 5 percent to 660 billion won.
