LG Q2 2017 financial report: home tech brings money, phones struggle

LG Electronics published the financial results for the second quarter of this year. The revenue went up 4% year over year to $12.89 billion while the operating income was 13.6% higher, $0.59 billion.

Most of that was made by the Home Appliance division – it brought in $0.41 billion of operating income on a revenue of $4.65 billion. That’s a 12% increase in sales, much better than the other three main divisions of LG Electronics.

LG Mobile posted an operating loss of $0.12 billion on a revenue of $2.39 billion, about the same numbers as a year ago. Lower than expected sales of LG flagships coupled with rising component costs were the major hurdle. The company’s mass market phones did well in the North American market, which brought 13% more sales than a year ago.

LG expects a new high-end device to launch “in the weeks ahead” (ahem, LG V30) and along with the newly introduced Q-series that should help profit bounce up in the second half of this year.

The Home Entertainment division took in a solid operating profit of $0.30 billion (on revenue of $3.75 billion) thanks to strong demand for its OLED TVs and Super UHD TVs. The demand is expected to stay strong next quarter. Meanwhile, LG cut down costs, resulting in a “solid” 8.1% operating profit margin.

Then there’s the Vehicle Components division whose sales rose 38% year over year to $0.78 billion thanks to the success of the Chevrolet Bolt in the US. LG expects to see a strong growth in the demand for components as the Bolt (and other smart electric cars) expand across North America and Europe.

This division posted a small loss due to investments in things like Advanced Driver Assistant Systems (ADAS). LG already scored its first partnership with “a leading German automaker” for ADAS camera.

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