LG Electronics said in a filing on Apr. 7 that its preliminary 2025 first-quarter results on a consolidation basis came to 23.733 trillion won in revenue and 1.6736 trillion won in operating profit. Revenue rose 4.4% and operating profit 32.9% from a year earlier. It achieved external expansion by posting the highest first-quarter revenue on record.
LG Electronics said, "Despite continued economic uncertainty, our core businesses such as home appliances led growth based on product leadership and a solid market position," adding, "Steady growth in business-to-business (B2B) operations such as vehicle components also contributed to setting a new record for quarterly revenue."
In the first quarter, compared with a year earlier, tariff increases by the U.S. administration of Donald Trump were implemented, heightening uncertainty in the global economy. LG Electronics nevertheless achieved higher operating profit than a year earlier during the period. The company said, "In addition to our preemptive tariff responses such as optimizing production sites, rigorous cost-structure improvements under way across the business to drive profitability-based growth broadly contributed to the strong results," adding, "High-margin businesses such as platforms, subscriptions, and online sales also continued to grow."
Currently, cost pressures are mounting due to geopolitical issues such as the Middle East war, including macroeconomic instability, higher raw material prices, and rising logistics costs. LG Electronics plans to minimize the impact on its business through preemptive response measures.
The Home Appliance & Air Solution (HS) institutional sector, which oversees LG Electronics' flagship home appliance business, expanded the share of online sales and subscriptions in the first quarter in line with shifting market demand. LG Electronics plans to continue fostering future growth engines such as home robots and robot components (actuators).
LG Electronics said profitability at the Media & Entertainment Solution (MS) division, which oversees businesses such as TVs and laptops, improved significantly from a year earlier. Continuing its focus on operational efficiency, it returned to the black from the previous quarter. Business based on the LG smart TV platform webOS is also growing rapidly. This year, the company plans to focus on strengthening market dominance around premium TVs such as organic light-emitting diode (OLED) and Micro RGB.
The Vehicle Solution (VS) division, which runs the vehicle components business, continued stable growth in the first quarter on the back of its order backlog. The company said, "Profitability also increased from a year earlier due to active cost-structure improvement efforts," adding, "Given the business characteristic of a high proportion of overseas clients, the strong-won environment also had a partially positive effect on profitability."
However, results at the Eco Solution (ES) division, which oversees the heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) business, declined from a year earlier. The Middle East war and other factors increased market uncertainty. LG Electronics plans to aggressively target high-potential markets such as heat pumps in step with the energy transition replacing fossil fuels with electricity. In addition, it will expand its lineup beyond air-cooling solutions to next-generation technologies such as liquid cooling, aiming to broaden its artificial intelligence (AI) data center cooling solution business.
The first-quarter results released by LG Electronics are estimates based on Korea International Financial Reporting Standards (K-IFRS). LG Electronics plans to announce first-quarter net profit on a consolidation basis and operating results by business division at the earnings briefing scheduled for the end of this month.