LG reports high Q4 2009 earnings

Most major companies are reporting their Q4 2009 earnings, and now comes a report from LG saying theirs was the highest in the company's history. LG Electronics sales in Q4 2009 as a whole (which include all world-wide sales) rose 6.8% at $12.2 Billion USD, while the operating profit rose to $328 Million USD. For the entire 2009 year, the total sales were up 12.5% at $43.4 Billion USD. Out of this, the LG Mobile Communications Company reported $3.6 Billion USD in world-wide sales during Q4 2009. Handset revenue for Q4 2009 was $3.3 Billion, a 5% decline compared to Q4 2008, and the profit margin was limited to 1.3%. However, shipments of handsets saw an increase of 32% in 2009 over 2008, and a 7% quarter-over-quarter to 33.9 million units, which resulted in a record 117.9 million units being sold in 2009 versus 100.7 million units in 2008 due to robust growth in North America, Europe and emerging markets. Price erosion and an increase in marketing expenses for year-end inventory clearance and emerging market channel expansion resulted in lower profitability compared to the third quarter. Yearly sales for the Mobile Communications Company increased 13.5% to $14.2 Billion USD, with the handset division alone seeing an increase of 17.3% year-over-year to $13.4 Billion USD.

source: LG