Roundup: LG Electronics' Q1 profit jumps to 7-quarter high on record TV, appliances sales

South Korean tech behemoth LG Electronics saw its first-quarter operating profit jump to the highest in seven quarters thanks to record earnings in TV and appliances businesses, a regulatory filing showed on Thursday.

Operating profit was 505.2 billion won (444 million U.S. dollars) in the three months ending March 31, up 65.5 percent from the same period of last year. From the previous three-month period, the profit jumped 44.8 percent.

It was an earnings surprise as the first-quarter profit topped market expectations of about 400 billion won. The figure was the largest since the second quarter of 2014.

The profit, which had surged from 478.8 billion won in the first quarter of 2014 to 609.7 billion won in the next quarter thanks to smartphone business recovery, continued to fall to 465 billion won in the third quarter of 2014 and 275.1 billion won in the next quarter. In 2015, the profit stayed between 200 billion won and 400 billion won.

The first-quarter rebound in operating profit came as LG's TV and appliances businesses posted quarterly record profits.

However, revenue fell 4.5 percent over a year earlier to 13.36 trillion won for the first three months of this year due to sagging sales in LG-manufactured mobile phones.

The home appliance & air solution (H&A) division, which makes consumer electronics, posted 407.8 billion won in operating profit on revenue of 4.22 trillion won. It topped the division's previous quarterly high of 330.1 billion won tallied in the second quarter of 2009.

The record profit was led by popularity of LG's new refrigerators and washing machines, which are high-priced premium products, as well as growth in business-to-business transactions of system air conditioners.

The home entertainment (HE) unit, which produces TVs, registered an operating profit of 335.2 billion won on revenue of 4.33 trillion won. The first-quarter profit exceeded the unit's previous quarterly high of 287.3 billion won tallied in the second quarter of 2012.

A rise in premium TV sales like OLED TVs and lower production costs, caused by panel price falls, contributed to improved profitability of the TV business.

The mobile communications (MC) business in charge of smartphones logged an operating loss of 202.2 billion won on revenue of 2.96 trillion won.

LG's new flagship smartphone G5 was released in the second quarter, driving consumers to delay their purchase of LG gadgets in the first quarter. The G5 release increased marketing costs, worsening the mobile business profitability.

The mobile unit stayed in the red for three straight quarters due to a fall in smartphone sales in emerging markets, especially in Latin America.

The company expected the mobile division to turn into the black in the second quarter thanks to sales of newly launched G5 smartphone.

The vehicle components (VC) division, which manufactures auto parts, posted an operating loss of 15.8 billion won in the first quarter after logging an operating profit in the previous quarter. The division's revenue surged 55 percent from a year earlier to 592.9 billion won. Endit