LG Powercom posts 54 pct drop in Q3 earnings

By Lee Youkyung
SEOUL, Oct. 20 (Yonhap) -- LG Powercom Corp., South Korea's No.3 broadband
Internet service provider, said Tuesday that its third-quarter net profit
declined 54 percent from a year earlier on a rise in marketing fees.
Net profit stood at 8.44 billion won (US$7.16 million) in the July-September
period, down 54 percent from 18.34 billion won a year earlier, the company said
in a regulatory filing. Its bottom line rose 17.8 percent on quarter.
The third-quarter bottom line was slightly above a market consensus of 8 billion
won, according to Yonhap Infomax, the financial arm of Yonhap News Agency.
Sales rose 16 percent on-year to 374.6 billion won but operating profit sank 51
percent to 20.9 billion won, the company said.
Shares of LG Powercom were trading at 6,530 won on the Seoul bourse as of 9:20
a.m., down 0.91 percent from Monday's close. The broader Korea Composite Stock
Price Index (KOSPI) benchmark rose nearly 1 percent.
The smaller-than-expected decline in Q3 earnings and the on-year rise in revenues
were attributed to the increased number of subscribers to the company's broadband
Internet and Internet phone services.
LG Powercom said the company registered the highest net increase of new
subscribers among broadband Internet providers during the July-September period.
As of end-September, it secured 2.46 million subscribers compared to 2.38 million
in the previous quarter.
The company is set to be absorbed into its bigger mobile service provider
affiliate LG Telecom Ltd. along with a fixed-line phone affiliate LG Dacom Corp.
in January 2010.
The merger of the three telecom arms of LG Group, South Korea's third-largest
family-run conglomerate, is designed to create a fixed-line and mobile powerhouse
that can better compete with bigger rivals SK Telecom Co. and KT Corp. KT
absorbed its mobile carrier unit last June.
ylee@yna.co.kr
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