April 26, 2024

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[THE INVESTOR] Korean home appliance maker LG Electronics said Jan. 8 that its fourth-quarter operating profit plunged 79.5 percent compared with a year earlier, far below market estimates.

The company’s operating profit reached 75.3 billion won (US$67 million) in the October-December period, compared to 366.8 billion won tallied a year earlier, the company said in a regulatory filing.

Sales declined 7 percent on-year to 15.7 trillion won, it said.

The quarterly guidance report’s operating profit hovered way below the market estimates of 384.6 billion won.

The company did not provide net profit and detailed performance data for each division. The finalized earnings will be delivered later this month.

Despite the weak earnings in the fourth quarter, the company logged an all-time high operating profit of 2.7 trillion won last year. Its annual sales were estimated at 61.3 trillion won, the second-largest ever.

By Song Seung-hyun and newswires (ssh@heraldcorp.com)