LG Electronics first-quarter profit trebles

LG Electronics Inc more than trebled its first-quarter profit and forecast record sales on strong demand for flat TV screens.
South Korea's top appliance maker blew away analysts' forecasts with its results on Wednesday, despite a fall in profit margins on mobile phones.
LG also sold fewer phones than it had planned, in contrast to strong figures from Motorola Inc on Tuesday, but raised its handset target for the whole year by 11 percent.
Red-hot demand for large, thin TVs and folding handsets should help LG post solid growth this year, although there is a risk that flat-screen prices will fall, analysts say.
"The second quarter is expected to be even better on stronger sales of handsets and air conditioners," said Chung Doo-sun, a fund manager at CJ Investment Trust Management.
LG, which competes with local rival Samsung Electronics Co Ltd in making mobile phones, TVs and refrigerators, earned 584.7 billion won ($506.6 million) in net profit for the first quarter to March 31.
The company, the world's top maker of air conditioners, said it expects sales to rise to 6.2-6.3 trillion won in the second quarter, up from a record 6.0 trillion in the first quarter and 5.2 trillion in the first quarter of the previous year.
LG is lapping up fast-growing demand for its large, flat plasma screen TVs and for liquid crystal displays (LCDs).
One of the biggest contributors to its earnings is LG.Philips LCD, a 50/50 joint venture with Philips Electronics NV that is the world's top maker of liquid crystal displays (LCDs) for televisions and computer screens.
LG booked 313 billion won in profits from the venture in the first quarter, helped by rising prices. The price of a 17-inch LCD panel rose to $288 from $259.20 a year earlier but is likely to fall to $233 toward the end of this year, analysts said.
That outlook has been echoed by Philips, which said prices of flat displays would stabilise and may decline for the rest of the year because of rising supplies.
LG said it would go ahead with a planned initial public offering for LG.Philips LCD this year and list on the US and South Korean stock markets. The IPO has been on ice since last year as its owners wanted to reassess the value of the booming business.
LG, the world's fifth-largest cellphone maker, sold 8.75 million handsets in the first quarter, lower than its forecast of nine million and down from 8.9 million in the fourth quarter as domestic sales sagged.