South Korea’s LG Uplus Corp. reported stellar earnings for the fourth quarter and the full year 2016 that beat the market expectation, thanks to strong growth in its high-speed wireless business and internet-based TV service sales.

The country’s third-largest mobile carrier announced on Thursday that net profit in the fourth quarter ended December last year has surged nearly 200 percent to 118.0 billion won ($12.9 million) from a year earlier. Over the same period, operating profit has jumped 63.0 percent to 184.4 billion won on revenue of 3.1 trillion won, up 9.1 percent.

For full 2016, its operating profit has reached 746.5 billion won on revenue of 11.5 trillion won, up 18.1 percent and 6.1 percent, respectively, from the previous year. The full-year operating profit came in above the market expectation of 730 billion won. The net profit for the year also soared 40.3 percent to 492.7 billion won in the cited period. Accordingly, the company decided to pay 350 won dividend per share, up from 250 won in 2015.

While reduced loans that have helped cut overall interest expenses largely attributed to a significant growth in net income, last year’s overall stellar performance is mainly owed to the strong growth in its wireless telecommunications business and internet-based TV services. Overall wireless revenue has risen 2.1 percent to 5.4 trillion won in 2016 from the previous year as the number of subscribers to its long term evolution (LTE) service has grown by 1.09 million to make up 88 percent of the company’s total wireless service subscriptions. The subscription rate for mobile network services marked 94 percent, up 10.1 percentage points from the previous year.

The revenue from the company’s landline services has ascended 7.9 percent to 3.6 trillion won from the previous year, led by its internet-based service business such as Internet Protocol TV (IPTV) and telephone services, as well as profit improvement in data business. The number of IPTV subscribers had edged up 12.2 percent on year to record 2.56 million after successful addition of popular IPTV contents and global video portal site YouTube.

Shares of LG UPlus ended up 3.1 percent, or 350 won, at 11,550 won in Seoul trading on Thursday.

By Kim Gyu-sik

[ⓒ Pulse by Maeil Business News Korea & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]