LG Elec logs record Q2 earnings on home appliances, car parts

South Korean tech giant LG Electronics Inc. is expected to log its record second-quarter revenue and operating profit thanks to robust sales of home appliances and automotive parts, according to the company’s preliminary report on Friday. 

The company posted 1.2 trillion won ($869.3 million) in operating profit and 21.7 trillion won in revenue in the April-June period, up 61.2% and 8.5% on-year, respectively, the report said. The earnings, exceeding consensus estimates, are the highest ever for the company’s second-quarter surplus and sales.  

It is the first time the company has logged more than 1 trillion won in quarterly operating profit for two quarters in a row since its inception in 1958.

It is also the first time that the second-quarter profit of the tech giant has exceeded 1 trillion won. Such high profits have occurred in the first quarters of some years, and exceptionally in the third quarter of 2020 when it earned 1.1 trillion won in profit.

The company said that the strong earnings came as LG has driven balanced growth of its core business, home appliances, and business-to-business (B2B) products and services such as car components and heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems.

LG said the revenue from home appliances was led by air conditioners, including artificial intelligence-powered Whisen Tower, of which sales in June soared more than 80% from a year earlier.

Its AI-backed air conditioners are more energy efficient, automatically remove dust on filters and moisture inside the machine and adjust operations depending on the room temperature.

The company also expands B2B sales of premium automotive components, such as electric vehicle powertrains and LG Alphaware for software-defined vehicles (SDVs), the capabilities of which are updated with software rather than hardware.

The company’s home entertainment business, which includes organic light-emitting diode (OLED) TVs and soundbars, suffered a rise in liquid-crystal display (LCD) costs and is gradually recovering in the European premium TV market.

LG said it will also accelerate the use of AI technology for commercial displays such as digital signage and video walls, as well as aim to boost sales of electronic whiteboard solutions for digital classrooms.

Write to Jeong-Soo Hwang at hjs@hankyung.com

Jihyun Kim edited this article.