À̹ÌÁö È®´ë [Photo by LG Household & Health Care Ltd.]
South Korea¡¯s top beauty and personal care brand LG Household & Health Care Ltd. reported record earnings last year after delivering another stellar performance in the final quarter of 2019 on robust cosmetics business and brisk overseas sales.
LG Household & Health in a regulatory filing on Wednesday said its consolidated operating profit for the quarter ended December 2019 jumped 14.3 percent from a year ago to a record high of 241 billion won ($204.4 million) for the quarter. Sales surged 18.5 percent on year to 2.01 trillion won, breaching the 2 trillion-won threshold for the first time on a quarterly basis.
Operating profit for full 2019 reached 1.17 trillion won, growing 13.2 percent from the previous year. Revenue came at 7.68 trillion won, up 13.9 percent on year. Both operating profit and revenue were record highs for a year.
LG Household & Health¡¯s share finished Wednesday 3.43 percent higher at 1,296,000 won.
Cosmetics business delivered an operating profit of 897.7 billion won last year on sales of 4.74 trillion won, with the figures gaining 14.7 percent and 21.5 percent, respectively, from a year-ago period. Its luxury line The History of Whoo maintained solid growth worldwide with revenue expanding to 2.58 trillion won, vying with global brands such as Estée Lauder, Lancome and SK2. The high-end lines LosecSumma of Su:m 37 and The First of OHUI also continued high growth.
À̹ÌÁö È®´ë [Photo by LG Household & Health Care Ltd.]
Overseas cosmetics sales last year surged 54 percent on year, and sales in China, in particular, soared 52 percent on strong demand for premium brands.The company also successfully entered the North American market last year via New Avon, a leading social selling beauty company in North America that the Korean beauty company acquired in April last year.
For the fourth quarter, beauty division¡¯s operating profit increased 11.1 percent from the same period of the previous year to 213.8 billion won on a 27.3 percent on-year gain in sales to 1.34 trillion won.
Operating profit from home and personal care (HPC) business for full 2019 grew 4.6 percent on year to 126 billion won with sales adding 1.8 percent to 1.48 trillion won. The company attributed the handsome performance to stellar sales of premium lines and successful business rationalization.
Beverage business also saw its operating profit for last year grow 12.1 percent on year to 152.7 billion won and sales were up 5.1 percent to 1.45 trillion won, driven by key brands such as Coca Cola, Sprite and Power Aid.
LG Household & Health said business performance stayed strong across the board last year with over 10 percent growth each quarter despite some challenges from the economic slowdown and the trade war between the U.S. and China.
By Lee Yoon-jae and Minu Kim
[¨Ï Pulse by Maeil Business Newspaper & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]