LG Electronics Posts First 4T Won Three-Quarter Operating Profit

LG Electronics reported cumulative operating profit of 4.0346 trillion won for the first three quarters of the year, marking the first time the company has surpassed 4 trillion won over a three-quarter period, according to inews24.com. Cumulative revenue for the same period reached 71.3807 trillion won, also a first for the company.

Both figures rose year-on-year, with revenue up 9.2% and operating profit up 55.9%. The milestone comes despite a weaker third quarter, when operating profit was 781.8 billion won, below market expectations of around 1 trillion won.

The company has been expanding its artificial intelligence data center cooling business. On the 6th, LG Electronics signed a long-term contract with Air Control Concept to supply 5GW-scale AI data center cooling solutions in North America. The company will invest 150 billion won to build a chiller plant for AI data centers in Virginia, USA, and add production lines in Pyeongtaek and Changwon, South Korea. The US plant is scheduled to begin production in the first half of next year.

In the first half of this year, LG Electronics' HVAC business secured over 600 billion won in AI data center cooling solution orders. Meanwhile, LG Innotek's third-quarter operating profit is estimated to have fallen to around or below 100 billion won, down from 203.8 billion won a year earlier.

Earlier context

In 2021, LG Electronics recorded annual operating profit of 4.058 trillion won, driven by increased demand for home appliances and TVs during the COVID-19 pandemic. In the second quarter of this year, the company purchased raw materials at a high exchange rate, which were reflected in product costs in the third quarter when the exchange rate fell, and it also incurred costs related to voluntary retirement.