(LEAD) LG Electronics sees record Q4 earnings on solid home appliance sales

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SEOUL, Jan. 8 (Yonhap) -- LG Electronics Inc. on Friday forecast robust fourth-quarter earnings as sales from its mainstay home appliances apparently remained solid despite the weakness of the U.S. dollar.

In its earnings guidance, the South Korean tech giant estimated its operating profit at 647 billion won (US$592 million) for the October-December period in 2020, a sixfold increase from a year ago.

Its fourth-quarter operating income estimate was lower than the market consensus of 689 billion won in a survey by Yonhap Infomax, the financial arm of Yonhap News Agency. However, it was still the largest-ever for a fourth quarter.

LG projected its fourth-quarter sales at a record high of 18.7 trillion won in the last three months of 2020, up 16.9 percent from a year earlier. The figure was slightly above the market forecast of 18.1 trillion won.

On a quarter-on-quarter basis, LG's fourth-quarter sales estimate was up 11 percent from the previous quarter, when it racked up 16.9 trillion won. Operating profit, however, was down 32.5 percent compared to the third quarter.

For the whole of 2020, LG expected its operating profit to reach 3.19 trillion won, up 31 percent from a year earlier, with its sales to climb 1.5 percent on-year to 63.26 trillion won.

Both yearly sales and operating profit will be all-time highs if the estimated figures are confirmed later.

LG did not break down performances of its respective business divisions, saying it will announce the detailed earnings later this month.

kdon@yna.co.kr
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