OSLO: LG Electronics mobile business dived into the red for the first time in 18 months during the third quarter, pulling down overall net profit despite a surge in home appliance sales, the company said Thursday.
The South Korean electronics maker said its handset unit, which includes smartphones, posted an operating loss of 77.6 billion won ($67.8 million) in the July-September period.
A company statement attributed the loss — the first since the first quarter of 2014 — to increased global competition and foreign exchange losses in key markets.
The firm has struggled for years with slow sales after making a late entry into the smartphone market following competitors such as Samsung and Apple (LSE: 0R2V.L – news) .
Its global market share took a further beating as Chinese rivals like Huawei expanded their presence in the low- and mid-end mobile segments in emerging markets.
LG (KSE: 003550.KS – news) said overall net profit for the third quarter amounted to 124.8 billion won, down 38 percent from a year ago.
Operating profit also tumbled 37 percent on-year to 294 billion won, while sales sagged five percent to 14 trillion won.
The losses in the mobile segment were partially offset by a more than four-fold increase in operating profit by the home appliance division to 246 billion won, boosted by sales of high-end refrigerators and washing machines at home and in the US market.
