When South Korean technology firm LG Electronics announced its disappointing fourth quarter results, it said it expects to boost its turnover and profitability in 2017.
Competitive smartphone market
LG’s fourth quarter turnover reached 14.8 trillion won (11.7 billion euro), up 1.5 % compared to the year before, but unfortunately it failed to get near last year’s profit (279 million euro). This time around, it had to deal with a 28 million euro operational loss and a 207 million euro net loss. Last year, that net loss ‘only’ reached 112 million euro.
The company has struggled with the highly competitive smartphone market, especially since last year’s flagship model, the LG G5, underperformed. 14.1 million smartphones were sold in its fourth quarter, down 8 % compared to the year before. For its full fiscal year, 55 million devices were sold, again down compared to the year before, when it sold 60 million.
For 2017, LG expects a lot more from its smartphone division, with a new flagship launch and a budget device for the masses. Its more expensive televisions should also perform a lot better in 2017.
