SEOUL, April 28 (Xinhua) -- LG Electronics, South Korea's tech giant, logged record earnings in the first quarter due to the solid sale of premium products, the company said Thursday.
Consolidated revenue jumped 18.5 percent from a year earlier to 21.11 trillion won (16.6 billion U.S. dollars) in the January-March quarter. It was the highest in the company's history.
Operating profit grew 6.4 percent to reach a new high of 1.88 trillion won (1.5 billion U.S. dollars) in the first quarter, and net income surged 19.8 percent to 1.4 trillion won (1.1 billion U.S. dollars).
The earnings surpassed market expectations of about 20 trillion won (15.7 billion U.S. dollars) for revenue and 1.3 trillion won (1 billion U.S. dollars) for operating profit.
The home appliance and air solution unit logged an operating profit of 447.6 billion won (351.4 million U.S. dollars) on revenue of 7.97 trillion won (6.3 billion U.S. dollars).
The revenue increased by 18.8 percent from a year earlier, recording the unit's highest quarterly figure.
It was driven by strong performance in premium appliances and new categories such as hygiene products applied with steam technology, the company said.
The home entertainment business recorded an operating profit of 188.4 billion won (147.9 million U.S. dollars) on revenue of 4.06 trillion won (3.2 billion U.S. dollars).
The revenue rose 1.4 percent from a year earlier thanks to continued demand for premium products such as OLED and large-screen TVs in Europe and North America.
The vehicle component solutions division posted a revenue of 1.88 trillion won (1.5 billion U.S. dollars) in the January-March quarter, up 8.5 percent from a year earlier.
The division, however, logged an operating loss of 6.3 billion won (4.9 million U.S. dollars).
The business solutions unit saw its revenue increase by 23.7 percent to 2.02 trillion won (1.6 billion U.S. dollars) in the cited quarter on the back of continued demand for monitors and PC products at the beginning of the academic season. ■