LG Reports Q3 Loss

TWICE Staff -- TWICE, 10/26/2011

Seoul, South Korea -- LG Electronics reported Wednesday a third-quarter net loss, due in large part to heavy equity declines in its flat-panel business operations.

However, the company said it expects to see modest sales growth in the next few months, fueled by sales of higher margined smartphones and 3DTVs. According to the third-quarter financial report, significant improvement was made in the company's handset operations, which helped reduce LG's operating loss over the past year.

The company reported a net loss of $366 million for the three months, ended Sept. 30, after booking a 257.9 billion won equity loss in the quarter from the LG Display unit.

LG also showed a 23.5 billion won loss from its LG Innotek components operation.

LG said it is counting on the rollout of new high-margin products, such as smartphones and 3DTVs to produce modest sales growth in coming months.

LG's operating loss improved to 31.9 billion won in the third quarter, from a loss of 185.2 billion won, the company said.

Overall sales declined 4 percent to 12.9 trillion won during the quarter, from 13.43 trillion won.

LG reported selling 21.1 million handsets, down from 24.8 million units in the second quarter. The operating loss margin grew to 5.2 percent, from 1.7 percent in the second quarter.

The TV business unit showed a 1.9 percent operating profit margin, up from 1.7 percent in the second quarter.