LG India’s Q2 profit drops 27%, but TV and AC market share increases

LG Electronics India on Thursday reported a 27% year-on-year decline in net profit to Rs 389.4 crore for the second quarter ended September, while there was a 1% YoY growth in revenue from operations at Rs 6,174 crore in the period under review. However, the company said it has improved market share in key categories such as TV, refrigerator and air conditioner. The country’s largest manufacturer of televisions and home appliances by market share said operations in the July-September period were affected by the GST transition phase, when both consumers and the trade halted purchases for over a month amid the overall challenging demand environment.”There was a temporary lull, but the GST rate cut was successfully implemented, festive sales were excellent, driven by premium products and business is picking up. Trade channel inventory has normalised. All signals are extremely positive,” Sanjay Chitkara, Chief Sales Officer, LG India, told ET.

Chitkara said LG has improved the total offline sales market share in TV by 1.4% to 27.5%, by 1% in refrigerator to 29.9%, by 0.5% in AC to 17.3%, even making it the market leader in AC. LG has a 33.4% share in washing machines and 45.4% in microwaves. These figures apply to the calendar year through September, ending in September.
LG’s EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) in the second quarter was Rs 548 crore with an EBITDA margin of 8.9%. The company said the decline in EBITDA margin was the result of the combined impact of rising commodity prices and increasing investments in celebratory go-to-market initiatives, to support the company’s distributors during difficult market conditions.
LG India Managing Director Hong Ju Jeon said in the earnings call that the first half of fiscal 2025-26 saw some macroeconomic headwinds, including a cool summer, geopolitical challenges, tariffs and currency fluctuations.“Despite this, our team in India has demonstrated resilience in growing sales, growing market share and maintaining stable profitability… We are now strategically accelerating our future growth by expanding our domestic footprint, followed by our focus on ramping up exports as global conditions normalize,” he said.

The company’s home appliances and AC business reported a marginal decline in segment sales at Rs 3947.8 crore in the September quarter compared to Rs 3953.2 crore in the same period last year. Revenue from the home entertainment or television and audio product segment grew 3% year-on-year to Rs 2,226.1 crore in the period under review. However, the segment profit of both business units was affected on an annual basis.

Though the results were announced after market hours, LG India’s share price closed at Rs 1674.1 apiece on the BSE on Thursday with a gain of 1.13%, while the benchmark Sensex closed with a marginal gain of 0.01%.