LG Says Q2 Profit Weighed Down by TV, Smartphone, Appliance Marketing Costs

South Korea's LG Eletronics on Friday said operating profit likely rose 16.1 percent in April-June, albeit weighed down by higher marketing expenses for new products in its TV, smartphone and appliance divisions, analysts said.

The world's second-biggest television set maker behind by Samsung Electronics Co estimated profit at KRW 771 billion ($691.11 million), versus an KRW 821 billion average of 10 analyst forecasts compiled by Thomson Reuters.

The estimate comes after LG posted its highest profit in nine years in January-March due to robust sales of high-profit-margin premium TVs. That in turn came after LG ended 2017 with a 33 percent share of the high-end TV market, pulling away from Samsung.

Revenue likely climbed 3.2 percent from the same period a year earlier to KRW 15 trillion, LG said in a regulatory filing. That compared with analysts' KRW 15.5 trillion estimate.

LG did not disclose further details of April-June operations and will announce full results at the end of July.

Earlier in the day, Samsung reported a preliminary quarterly profit increase of 5.2 percent to KRW 14.8 trillion, its slowest growth in over a year as weak smartphone sales blunted the impact of record chip earnings.

LG shares closed down 2.7 percent on Friday after the earnings guidance, compared with a 0.7 percent rise in the broader market.

© Thomson Reuters 2018