LG released their quarterly
results for the three months ending in June and they're doing well
overall - except the mobile department. R&D investments and
expanding into emerging markets costs ate into the profit from the
mobile phones, which were actually more than the same period of last
year.
The net results for LG are 14.4 trillion Korean won in sales (12.4
billion US dollars) and operating profit of 126 billion KRW (108
million USD). Net profit declined 33% in won and 26% in USD compared to
the same quarter of last year.
LG shipped 30.6 million phones this quarter, which is a 13% increase
over than the previous quarter. The income however only rose 5.8%.
Compared to the same quarter of last year, that's 2% more phones sold
but a 29.5% decline in income. LG explains the falling operating profit
margin with investments in R&D and costs related to expansion into
new markets.
Other departments of LG had a strong quarter and offset the loss
from the mobile division. As for the next quarter, they are expecting a
"modest growth" and promise to "continue to introduce new products in
major categories including smartphones".
Looking through our news section, we can't see all that many announcements from LG
in the recent months. "Continuing" that trend can't be a good strategy,
can it? But maybe all that cash poured into R&D will pay off with
great new products - like maybe something even better than the canceled
MeeGo-powered LG GW990 and that actually reaches the market (fingers crossed).
Hit the full press release for more details as well as info on the other departments.