LG Household & Healthcare Co. extended hot earnings streak as its beauty and household care items establish themselves as premium brands during the Covid-19 environment.

South Korea’s top beauty and personal care brand announced in its regulatory filing on Thursday that its operating profit on a consolidated basis during the April to June period reached 335.8 billion won ($292 million), up 10.7 percent from a year ago.

Revenue rose 13.4 percent on year to 2.02 trillion won and net income 10.6 percent to 226.4 billion won. Sales have been extending growth nonstop for 62 quarters except for the second half in 2005 and operating income for 65 quarters except for the first quarter in 2005.

On Thursday, shares of LG Household & Healthcare fell 3.73 percent to close at 1,627,000 won.

For the first six months of the year, LG Household recorded 706.3 billion won in operating profit, up 21 percent from the previous six months and 10.9 percent from last year.

Sales grew 10.3 percent on year to 4.06 trillion won and net profit gained 10.6 percent to 485.2 billion won.

The sound performance was owed to steady demand for its upscale brands and brisk sales in China, the company said.

Its beauty business division posted an 18.4 percent on-year growth in operating profit from January to June to 473.3 billion won. Revenue increased 14.3 percent to 2.27 trillion won.

Despite the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and fierce competition with Chinese rivals, strong demands for its luxury cosmetics brands including Ohui and The History of Whoo led to the pre-pandemic level of performance of the beauty business, the company said.

The home care & daily beauty (HBD) business posted $125 billion won in operating profit during the first half, down 2.7 percent from the previous year due to the weakening demand for hygiene products compared to last year when the pandemic was at its height. But revenue increased 8 percent to 1.02 trillion won on releases of new products and overseas business expansion, according to the company.

The refreshment division that sells beverage products reaped 108 billion won in operating profit over the past six months, down 0.7 percent. Sales rose 2.5 percent to 766.8 billion won.

By Choi Mira

[ⓒ Pulse by Maeil Business Newspaper & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]