LG posts loss on phones, TVs

SEOUL, April 27 (Bloomberg): LG Electronics Inc, the world's third-largest maker of mobile phones, posted an unexpected second straight quarterly loss after a slump in handset sales and lower earnings from home appliances. The first-quarter net loss was 15.8 billion won ($15 million), compared with 674.6 billion won profit a year earlier, Seoul-based LG said in a statement today. Analysts predicted profit of 56.6 billion won, based on the average of 11 estimates compiled by Bloomberg in the past 28 days. Sales were little changed at 13.2 trillion won. The mobile-phone business posted a loss for a fourth straight quarter after LG's Optimus smartphones failed to take market share from models by Apple Inc and Samsung Electronics Co LG is counting on smartphones and 3-D TVs to help Korea's second-largest electronics maker to revive profitability. "They don't really have a business that can rise above others," said Song Seong Yeob, a fund manager at Seoul-based KB Asset Management Co, which manages $21 billion in assets. "Their profit margin largely hinges on the handset business but I'm still not sure how well it will do."