LG Electronics says second-quarter profit likely up 16.1 percent, misses analyst estimates

[July 06, 2018]  SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea's LG Electronics Inc on Friday said operating profit likely rose 16.1 percent in April-June, albeit weighed down by higher marketing expenses for new products in its TV, smartphone and appliance divisions, analysts said.

LG Electronics smartphones seen inside the Class cellphone store in Beirut, Lebanon July 6, 2017. REUTERS/Aziz Taher/File Photo

The world's second-biggest television set maker behind by Samsung Electronics Co Ltd estimated profit at 771 billion won ($691.11 million), versus an 821 billion won average of 10 analyst forecasts compiled by Thomson Reuters.

The estimate comes after LG posted its highest profit in nine years in January-March due to robust sales of high-profit-margin premium TVs. That in turn came after LG ended 2017 with a 33 percent share of the high-end TV market, pulling away from Samsung.

Revenue likely climbed 3.2 percent from the same period a year earlier to 15 trillion won, LG said in a regulatory filing. That compared with analysts' 15.5 trillion won estimate.

LG did not disclose further details of April-June operations and will announce full results at the end of July.

Earlier in the day, Samsung reported a preliminary quarterly profit increase of 5.2 percent to 14.8 trillion won, its slowest growth in over a year as weak smartphone sales blunted the impact of record chip earnings.

LG shares closed down 2.7 percent on Friday after the earnings guidance, compared with a 0.7 percent rise in the broader market.

(Reporting by Heekyong YangEditing by Christopher Cushing)

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