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LG Uplus Corp. stood out in second-quarter performance among Korea’s three wireless carriers as the industry’s smallest pulled off a near 60 percent in operating profit while gains by bigger peers remained under 20 percent as its agile business focus to value-added contents on 5G network and TV paid off.
LG Uplus said in a regulatory filing on Friday that it raised 239.7 billion won in consolidated operating income in the second quarter ended June, up 59.2 percent on-year and 9.1 percent on quarter. Net profit also jumped 52.9 percent on-year and 1.2 percent on-quarter to 150.6 billion won in the April-June period on sales of 3.27 trillion won, up 5.1 percent on-year and down 0.4 percent on-quarter.
On the same day, KT Corp. disclosed its operating profit gained 18.6 percent on year while falling 10.8 percent on quarter to 341.8 billion won. Sales fell 3.6 percent and up a tad of 0.8 percent on year to 5.88 trillion won, and its net profit rose 2.2 percent and fell 8.4 percent on quarter to 207.6 billion won.
Industry leader SK Telecom on Thursday reported gains of 11 percent on year and 19 percent on quarter in operating profit of 359.5 billion won.
LG Uplus, a distant third, has been making big strides since the fourth quarter as its contents-strong 5G package appealed to young Koreans.
Its operating profit surged 75 percent in the fourth quarter of 2019 from the same period a year ago and 11.5 percent in the first quarter of 2020. It posted highest growth for three consecutive quarters among three mobile carriers.
Shares of LG Uplus added 0.87 percent to close Friday at 11,600 won. KT gained 0.21 percent to 23,850 won.
LG said its revenue from mobile service in the second quarter increased 4.9 percent on year to 1.3 trillion won on the back of increase in the number of subscribers although smartphone sales fell amid COVID-19 pandemic.
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Wireless business of KT was relatively stagnant at 0.6 percent on-year gain. Instead of number of new IPTV doubled to reach 8.56 million.
LG pooled in more. The number of LG mobile subscribers increased 8 percent to 15.859 million in the second quarter. Net increase in the number of subscribers was 29.4 percent on quarter and 15.2 percent on-year to 341,000. Of the total, 1.785 million were 5G subscribers, accounting for 16 percent of the total.
Revenue from smart home business jumped 10.5 percent to 494.6 billion won thanks to growth in the number of Internet Protocol television (IPTV) and high-speed Internet subscribers. IPTV sales increased 12.5 percent following a hike in basic rate while those of high-speed Internet 7.8 percent during the cited period.
Revenue from corporate infrastructure business jumped 2.7 percent on-year and 10.1 percent on-quarter to 345 billion won on the back of expansion in Internet Data Center (IDC) and solution business.
LG Uplus spent 556.9 billion won in marketing expenses, down 1.4 percent from the previous three-month period in the second quarter.
The company’s capital expenditures (CAPEX) jumped 66.9 percent on quarter to 625.3 billion won in the second quarter. LG Uplus said it spent 1 trillion won in facility investment in the first six months of the year – 40 percent of annual target of 2.5 trillion won.
In the second half of the year, LG Uplus plans to expand business-to-consumer business by providing 5G contents that meet contactless demand.
Lee Hyuk-ju, vice president and chief financial officer at LG Uplus, said that the company was able to see growth in key business and improved profitability even in limited face-to-face environment. The company will continue to see growth in mobile business in the second half of the year backed by release of flagship smartphone by its affiliate LG Electronics Inc. and expansion in online retail channel as well as in smart home and corporate infrastructure businesses by attracting high-value customers and winning 5G business-to-business orders.
[ⓒ Maeil Business Newspaper & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]
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