LG CNS Co., unlisted IT service unit under South Korean conglomerate LG Group, reported stellar earnings for the first quarter and expects strong year as it benefits from accelerated cloud and other networking upgrade due to remote working and schooling arrangements under coronavirus health risk.

In its regulatory filing on Friday, LG CNS said its consolidated operating profit for the first three months of this year reached 24.4 billion won ($19.8 million), up 5.6 percent from a year ago. Net profit jumped 30.6 percent on year to 19.8 billion won, while sales added 3.7 percent to a record high 636.8 billion won for the quarter.

During the first quarter, internal digital transformation within LG Group accelerated due to the COVID-19 outbreak. It has been responsible for migration of 90 percent of data systems of family units including LG Electronics, LG Chem and LG Display to the cloud by 2023.

The company won outside projects for upgrade data storage system of Korean Air Lines to Amazon Web Services’ cloud platform AMW.

To capitalize on the outside momentum, LG CNS aims to focus more on non-contact solutions for payment and access control systems. It has showed off the AI-enabled face recognition system for access control and payment at its headquarters building in Magok, Seoul. It was also hailed for fixing the errors detected in the country’s online educational platform EBS Online Class that is used by Korean schools for home learning during COVID-19 outbreaks.

LG CNS expects greater synergy with Australia-based private equity fund operator Macquarie PE, which acquired a 35 percent stake in it for about 951.6 billion won in November. Last year, LG CNS reported its best year, with best-ever operating profit of 186.3 billion won on record sales of 3.04 trillion won on a separate basis.

By Shin Chan-ok and Lee Ha-yeon

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