LG Uplus Q3 net jumps 38%

LG Uplus Inc., South Korea's No. 3 mobile carrier, said Wednesday its third-quarter net profit soared 38.4 percent from a year earlier due largely to a solid growth in its mobile business.

Net income reached 113.6 billion won ($100.2 million) in the July-September period, compared with 82 billion won the previous year, the company said in a regulatory filing.

The figure beat the market consensus of 106.3 billion won in a poll surveyed by Yonhap Infomax, the financial news arm of Yonhap News Agency.

The stronger bottom line came from a good performance in its mobile sector, especially its mobile platform business, LG Uplus said.

The country's smallest mobile carrier, whose wireless network is heavily based on long-term evolution, launched a mobile app in late June that offers some 130,000 videos from real-time TV shows and movies to e-learning.

The company said the LTE video portal has seen robust demand since its debut, contributing to the growth in its mobile segment.

Also it managed to improve its balance sheet in the cited quarter, lending hands to the profit boost.

It booked 1.3 trillion won in operating profit for the mobile sector, up 2.8 percent from a year ago, with the profit from its cable and Internet TV division also growing 4.2 percent on-year to 821.7 billion won.

Operating profit came to 172.1 billion won, down 1.4 percent from a year earlier on an increase in market expenses. Its sales also edged down 1.6 percent on-year to 2.71 trillion won over the cited period.

Shares of LG Uplus were trading at 11,350 won on the Seoul bourse around noon, down 1.7 percent from a day earlier. The earnings result was released after the stock market opened.  (Yonhap)