LG reports record-high earnings
Boosted by strong sales of cell phones and flat-panel TVs, the electronics maker posts quarterly earnings of $920 million, a gain of 62 percent from a year ago.
In the midst of the global recession, at least one company's business is booming.
LG Electronics reported on Wednesday record-high quarterly earnings of $1.15 trillion Korean won ($920 million), a leap of 62 percent over the year-ago quarter.
Global sales for the quarter that ended June 30 shot up 13.8 percent to 14.5 trillion won ($11.63 billion).
The net profit surpassed expectations of analysts polled by Dow Jones, who had forecast around 743 billion won. Earnings also enjoyed a strong rebound from the first quarter when LG took a loss of 197.6 billion won.
LG's results were helped by a weak won vs. U.S. dollar. But skyrocketing sales of both cell phones and flat-screen televisions also boosted the bottom line.
LG shipped a record 4.28 million LCD TVs in the second quarter, compared with 2.96 million a year ago. Cell phone shipments reached 29.8 million units in the quarter, 8 percent higher than the year-ago quarter and 32 percent higher than the first quarter. The company said customer demand was especially heavy for its new touch-screen Cookie phone.
For the current quarter, the company sees revenue growing more than 10 percent based on continued demand for its TVs and phones. LG said its new LCD TVs with LED backlighting will help it win a greater share of the flat-panel market. Although LG expects industrywide shipments of cell phones to drop 6 percent globally this year, the company expects that its own shipments will continue to rise.
Last month, LG said that it's looking to surpass Sony as the No. 2 LCD TV maker by increasing its shipments this year 70 percent to 18 million.