LG Electronics Posts 5 Trillion Won Revenue for Q1

LG Electronics` sales revenues for the first quarter of this year (from January through March) exceeded 5 trillion won for the first time in its history despite the recent economic downturn.

The company announced on April 17 that its sales revenues and profits for the first quarter reached 5 trillion and 170.5 billion won (exports of 3 trillion and 941.5 billion won plus domestic sales of 1 trillion and 229 billion won) and 417.2 billion won (with its profit rate at 8.1 percent), up by 17.2 percent and 13.7 percent, respectively, compared to the same period last year. However, its current profits only stood at 205.8 billion won due to losses caused by exchange rates and affiliate shares, showing a net profit of 194.4 billion won.

The company explained that this increase in sales revenue came from its focus on some premium home appliances such as digital TVs, PDPs and cell phones.

By area, the Digital Display and Media Business Department posted 1 trillion and 709.7 billion won in sales revenue up by 7.3 percent as compared to the same period last year with a sales increase in high-value added products such as PDP TV and LCD TV products. For home appliances, premium products such as the TROMM washer and DIOS refrigerator sold well posting sales of 1 trillion and 647.8 billion won up 11.1 percent compared to the same period last year with a sales profit rate of 13.5 percent.

Tae-Han Kim freewill@donga.com