LG Electronics net loss narrows in Q4

LG Electronics Inc., South Korea's leading consumer electronics maker, said Wednesday that its net loss narrowed in the fourth quarter from a year earlier, aided by increased sales of smartphones and high-end TVs.Net loss amounted to 111.6 billion won (US$99 million) in the October-December period, smaller than the loss of 256.4 billion won tallied in the previous year, the company said in a regulatory filing.The overall number also represents an improvement from three months earlier when the company posted a loss of 413.9 billion won, caused mainly by lackluster smartphone sales. The latest result, however, is worse than a median forecast of 24.8 billion won in net profit surveyed by Yonhap Infomax, the financial news arm of Yonhap News Agency.Sales declined 6.01 percent on-year to 13.8 trillion won in the three month period and the company posted an operating profit of 23.1 billion won, a turnaround from an operating loss of 245.7 billion won in the previous year.