Korean electronics giants LG and Samsung both revealed their preliminary earning guidance for the first quarter of 2020 and the spreading coronavirus pandemic did not seem to impact much on their business.
LG Electronics reported tentative consolidated revenues of KRW 14.7 trillion (US$ 12.03 billion) and with an operating profit of KRW 1.1 trillion (US$ 899.8 million) for 1Q20. Compared to 1Q19, the sales was about 1.2% lower but the operating income increased by 21.1% on year.
Meanwhile, Samsung Electronics posted its 1Q20 earnings guidance with consolidated sales of approximately KRW 55 trillion (US$ 45.1 billion) and a consolidated operating profit of approximately KRW 6.4 trillion (US$ 5.25 billion). In comparison with the same period last year, the sales grew by 5% and operational profit increased by 2.73%.
Both Samsung and LG announced that they are cutting LCD display production and turned the focus to OLED or Micro LED display technology. LG will end domestic LCD production while Samsung will terminate all of its LCD production by the end of 2020.
Despite that both of them reported stable and increased business for the first quarter in 2020, the two companies have closed many facilities across the globe and their business in the coming quarters might still be affected by the expected market decline due to COVID-19 pandemic.