South Korean home appliance giant LG Electronics Inc. will up its capital expenditure in 2017 by 30 percent from the previous year, spending total 3.6 trillion won ($3.2 billion) in a move to bolster new growth engines, in particular, auto electronics business.
According to the company on Tuesday, 15 percent of this year’s total investment, 544 billion won is earmarked for its vehicle component (VC) unit that contributed a mere 5 percent, or 2.8 trillion, to the firm’s total sales of 55.4 trillion won last year. This indicates that the company pins high hopes on the unit, an unnamed company official said, adding that the division requires an early-stage large investment as the business needs production facilities set up to receive orders from customers.
Around 593.3 billion won will go to its main cash generating home & appliance (H&A) unit, which manufactures home appliances such as refrigerators and washers. The fund will be used to build a research & development center whose construction is currently under way at Changwon in South Gyeongsang Province and refurbish production lines at its factory in the area.
About 147.1 billion won will go to the mobile communications (MC) division that has posted losses in recent years and 185.5 billion won to home entertainment.
The conglomerate will also allocate 792.1 billion won in its subsidiary LG Innotek Co. which manufactures electronic component devices such as smartphone camera modules.
Shares of LG Electronics closed Wednesday at 67,200 won, down 1.61 percent from the previous session in Seoul trading.
By Kim Dong-eun
[ⓒ Pulse by Maeil Business News Korea & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]