South Korea's top two cosmetics firms report differing results for Q2
SEOUL, Aug. 5 (UPI) -- South Korea's two leading cosmetics companies reported differing results for the second quarter of this year. Runner-up player Amorepacific fared well, while business bellwether LG Household & Health Care struggled.
Amorepacific said Friday that its second-quarter operating profit was $53 million, up more than 16-fold from a year ago. During the three-month period, its sales also jumped 11.1% year-over-year to reach $720 million.
The Seoul-based company was supported by stellar performance in global markets. It posted double-digit sales growth in such major markets as the United States, China and the Middle East.
An analyst said Amorepacific boosted its bottom line thanks to improvement in China, where the company suffered huge losses in the past.
"It seems that Amorepacific's Chinese business recorded a small amount of operating profit in the second quarter, following the first quarter," Korea Investment & Securities analyst Kim Myung-joo said in a market report.
"It has restructured its transaction model in China, which caused inefficiencies last year, and has also significantly reduced the number of offline stores. Thanks to these structural changes, it is not likely to log large losses in China anymore," Kim said.
By contrast, LG Household's revenue stood at $1.15 billion during the April-June period, down 8.8% from a year before. Its operating income dropped 65.4% year-over-year to $39 million.
The company's beauty business suffered an operating loss of $1.2 million, the first quarterly deficit in two decades.
The disappointing results of LG Household, a unit of LG Group, is attributable to the stiff competition in its traditional channels, including duty-free shops and door-to-door sales.
Despite the solid results, Amorepacific's share price dipped more than 5% over the past three trading days through Tuesday. LG Household also faced a similar downturn during this span.
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