LG Electronics expected its best-ever third-quarter earnings,

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LG Electronics Inc. on Thursday expected its best-ever third-quarter earnings, as its home appliance and TV sales apparently got a boost from pent-up demand amid the pandemic-driven stay-at-home trend.

In its earnings guidance, the South Korean tech firm projected its operating profit at 959 billion won (US$831 million) for the July-September period, up 22.7 percent from a year earlier.

Its third-quarter operating income estimate beats the market consensus of 888.7 billion won in the data compiled by Yonhap Infomax, the financial arm of Yonhap News Agency, which surveyed 10 Korean brokerage houses in the past three weeks.

LG also expected its third-quarter sales to be 16.9 trillion won in the three-month period, up 7.8 percent from a year earlier. The figure is also above the market consensus of 16.4 trillion won.

Both sales and operating profit are the largest for any third quarter in its history.

LG did not break down performances of its respective business divisions, saying it will announce the detailed earnings later this month.

Analysts believe LG’s products highlighting health and hygiene features, such as air purifiers and steam dryers, led its home appliance sales amid the pandemic, while its TV sales also jumped due to the fast-growing stay-at-home economy and demand recovery in North America.

“As stay-at-home trends continue due to COVID-19, sales of its premium home appliances and TVs have been solid,” Lee Wang-jin, an analyst at eBest Investment & Securities, said.

“With reduced marketing costs, sales of 75-inch or larger TVs went very well.”

According to market researcher TrendForce, LG was the world’s second largest TV vendor in the third quarter after its TV shipments increased 6.7 percent on-year to 7.94 million units.

Compared with the second quarter, LG’s TV shipments soared 81.7 percent.

This photo provided by LG Electronics Inc. on Sept. 4, 2020, shows the company's OLED TV displayed at a store in Australia.

This photo provided by LG Electronics Inc. on Sept. 4, 2020, shows the company’s OLED TV displayed at a store in Australia.

LG’s struggling mobile business has been projected to narrow its operating losses in the third quarter with smartphone sales increasing.

The company expanded its budget smartphone lineup in major markets to overcome the long slump in the mobile business, which has been in the red since the second quarter of 2015.

“LG’s mobile business is expected to have reduced its operating loss with demand recovery in the United States and some benefits from the Huawei ban in the Latin American market,” Kim Rok-ho, an analyst at Hana Financial Investment, said.

LG’s vehicle component solutions business has been also tapped to post improved earnings in the third quarter as global automakers started to resume operations after lockdowns.

Shares in LG dived 2.91 percent to 93,300 won on the Seoul bourse, underperforming the broader KOSPI’s 0.21 percent increase despite its upbeat earnings guidance

HARVESTfresh ™ combined refrigerators by Beko .

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RCNA406E60LZXRN and RCNE560E61ZXN are in fact the innovative combined free-standing refrigerators (respectively 60 and 70 cm wide and the first 2 m and the second 192 cm high) proposed by the brand, expression of a snappy aesthetic and equipped with the best technologies for home storage.

In particular, the HARVESTfresh ™ technology , based on nature, imitates the solar day thus keeping vitamins A and C unchanged and for a long time: in fact, thanks to the presence of three efficient lights inside the vegetable bowl, the day-night cycle is followed. Through the three lights, which are activated according to the cycle of the day and turn off during the night (dark period), sunrise is imitated with blue, midday with green and sunset with red light, while the period darkness identifies the night. If the fridge door is opened during the dark period, one of the three lights will turn on, in order to allow greater visibility of the operation.

HARVESTfresh ™, after rigorous scientific tests conducted by independent laboratories and academic research, has received the INTERTEK certification, revealing the effectiveness of this solar cycle for the optimal preservation of vegetables, which thus keep intact the supply of vitamins .

The Beko combi refrigerators are also equipped with the Total No-Frost NeoFrost ™ Dual Cooling cooling system , a special technology that cools with two separate cooling systems, thus maintaining a high humidity level in the fridge and at the same time the dry freezer environment. , frozen and natural (no frost).

They are also characterized by the practical external Touch Display on the door, a device capable of displaying the temperatures set in the fresh food and freezer compartment, without having to open the door. In addition, versatility is at home in these combined units: thanks to the SmoothFit ™ flush-to-wall opening, the refrigerator can also be positioned near the walls or corners of the house, as the door remains conveniently open at 90 °.

Available in Dark Inox and Inox Look colors , the appliances are equipped with the ProSmart ™ Inverter compressor that allows you to cool faster, consume less and be four times quieter than normal refrigerator compressors. The interiors also ensure optimal space management and technologies to improve food storage, such as the freshness package which also includes the EverFresh + ® drawer in which temperature and humidity are controlled to reduce condensation and thus ensuring fresh fruit and vegetables up to 30 days. The compartment dedicated to meat, fish and dairy products is kept just above the freezing temperature to preserve their freshness.

The power of steam: the Gaggenau CombiVapore ovens

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A new generation of state-of-the-art appliances capable of revolutionizing the culinary habits of the private chef, while ensuring objects with an exclusive and elegant design: the CombiVapore ovens of the 400 and 200 series by Gaggenau .

A leading luxury brand in the production of professional household appliances, Gaggenau already introduced the steam oven in private kitchens 20 years ago , perfecting its creations year after year and allowing the use, in a single combination, of the of steam and hot air cooking, the convenience of automatic programs, precise temperature control and a state-of-the-art cleaning system, performances previously only possible in restaurant kitchens.

Since then, the Gaggenau CombiVapore ovens have made aesthetic and technological research their cardinal principles: the sculptural shapes and precious materials are combined with exceptional culinary performances in the ovens of the 200 and 400 series, made possible thanks to some important innovations, including the connection direct water and automatic cleaning system.

In fact, both lines include both models of combined steam ovens with tank, and with direct connection to the water system , capable of eliminating the need to load and unload the tank and thus offering high flexibility and ease of use, especially by mode. of preparation that require long times, such as cooking at low temperatures in sous-vide functionality, ensuring a constant supply of fresh water

Great attention is then given to maintenance, with the automatic cleaning system : by simply using a specially designed cartridge composed of bicarbonate and citric acid, maximum hygiene is ensured, while eliminating the need for manual oven cleaning.

For those looking for perfection in the execution of delicious recipes, Gaggenau introduces the temperature measurement probe in the two series of ovens , capable of detecting the internal temperature of the food with the utmost precision: it is in fact equipped with three sensors capable of continuously identify the remaining cooking time, guaranteeing professional results with every use.

In addition, to allow unlimited flexibility of use, the dimensions of the cavities of the CombiVapore ovens have been enlarged, reaching a capacity of 50 liters , so as to allow home chefs to prepare more dishes and in large quantities.

Demonstrating the constant commitment to creating aesthetically beautiful products, Gaggenau gives the 200 and 400 series a distinctive design: the full surface grill is elegantly hidden under the glass ceramic , thus guaranteeing the highest level of formal cleanliness and essentiality even inside the oven. enhanced by the presence of a striking LED lighting system that directs the light towards the back of the oven, making the dishes being cooked clearly visible and allowing greater control.

Finally, all Gaggenau steam combi ovens are equipped with Home Connect , which offers those who use them maximum freedom, thanks to the direct control of its functions via apps from smartphones and tablets.

Two decades of refinement and innovation have led us to the new 400 and 200 Series CombiVapore ovens. – declares Peter Goetz , CEO of Gaggenau – Our technological leadership has allowed us to create an appliance capable of offering perfect cooking results without limits and a minimal and modern aesthetic in the kitchen. We believe that having the ability to cook like a professional is a luxury that those who love being in the kitchen demand

Hisense Plans To Open Washing Machine Factory in Africa

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Hisense has made public its plans to open a washing machine manufacturing plant in South Africa by February 2021.

This will be the company’s second manufacturing plant in the continent, following the opening of a KES 2.2 Billion plant back in 2013 that is used to produce TVs and fridges. In 2019, Hisense added an additional production line that saw it start assembling smartphones in the Atlantis factory.

“Since launching washing machines in the country three years ago, Hisense has achieved a 12% market share in that segment,” the group said.

The new factory, which will also be in Atlantis, north of Cape Town in South Africa, will add an additional 200 jobs into the country’s economy. Hisense says that they currently employ more than 800 people and reach over 3000 people through their outreach programmes that train and uplift the wellbeing of people in communities around South Africa.

In 2019, Hisense managed to put out more than 530,000 TVs and 331,000 fridges from their factory in the country. “In 2019, one in four TVs or fridges sold in South Africa was a Hisense,” said the company.

Hisense has also made significant inroads in Africa, with products also being exported to 13 other African countries, including Kenya, South Africa, Namibia, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Zambia, Botswana and Lesotho.

Hisense has appointed actress Gong Li as its new global brand ambassador

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Hisense has appointed famous Chinese-born Singaporean actress Gong Li as its new global brand ambassador.

“The cooperation between Gong Li and Hisense, which has promoted Chinese brands to the world, brings out the best in each other,” the company said in a statement.

According to Hisense, the reason behind the appointment is that Gong Li’s spirit coincides with the brand’s focus and benefits its overseas marketing activitie

Midea overcomes COVID-19 challenge to continue overseas expansion

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Despite the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, Midea Group, a Chinese home appliance maker, will expand its global footprint this year, strengthen the layout of its supply chain, and increase its investment in Thailand, Egypt and Brazil.

Although overseas orders increased by 10 percent year-on-year in the first half of this year, that was not enough to avoid declines in both revenue and net profit.

First-half net profit was 13.90 billion yuan ($2 billion), down 8.29 percent, on a revenue of 139.70 billion yuan, down 9.47 percent. More than 40 percent of its revenue came from overseas markets as Midea added more than 11,000 sales outlets abroad.

The company underlined its e-commerce business. Its products now cover major online retail websites in Italy, the United Kingdom and France.

“We are more willing to build joint ventures in overseas markets, especially countries and regions taking part in the Belt and Road Initiative,” said Fang Hongbo, chairman and president of Midea.

Fang noted that growing market demand in emerging countries and regions, along with an improving domestic demand for smart home appliances, will help boost sales in the years ahead.

“We need to rethink the layout of overseas manufacturing bases,” Wang Jianguo, vice-president of Midea, said.

The company will also look for suitable places to establish a manufacturing base in North America.

Established in 1968, the Foshan, Guangdong province-based Midea makes air conditioners, refrigerators, laundry appliances, kitchen appliances and various small home appliances. It has 28 research and development centers and 34 major production bases around the world.

Its orders from overseas markets rose by 26 percent on a yearly basis in the first quarter. Wang has strong confidence that the company’s performance in the second half of this year will improve despite COVID-related changes and uncertainties.

The company will strengthen its global supply chains and increase investment in Thailand, Egypt and Brazil. In April, Midea began to build an air conditioner factory in Thailand. It is also preparing to build a manufacturing base in Egypt, its 18th overseas.

First-half retail sales of home appliances in China were worth 369 billion yuan, down 14 percent year-on-year, due to COVID-19, said a report released by the China Center for Information Industry Development, which is part of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

The CCIID report also said the market for most of home appliances has shrunk and sales fell in the first half of the year.

“The growth rate of the domestic home appliance market is dropping, so major players should accelerate steps to expand in overseas markets such as North America, South America, Africa and Europe as they continue to show huge growth potential in low, medium and high-end products,” said Liang Zhenpeng, a consumer electronics analyst.

Liang noted in the past most of the Chinese enterprises adopted the original equipment manufacturer or OEM model, but nowadays they tend to build their own brands to be competitive globally.

Midea’s more than 150,000 staff members man its 17 production bases in overseas markets, with its products sold in more than 200 countries and regions. Midea has set up overseas 18 R&D centers in the United States, Japan, Italy, Germany, Singapore, Austria, Israel and other countries.

Since the establishment of its first overseas plant in Vietnam in 2007, Midea has efficiently expanded its operations. The company has stepped up its go-global push in recent years through mergers and acquisitions.

Midea acquired a 32.5 percent stake in Egypt-listed air conditioner manufacturer Miraco. It took a majority stake in German industrial robotics manufacturer Kuka in 2016, marking another important step in the company’s bid to expand into automation and smart manufacturing.

In 2017, it purchased more than a 50 percent stake in Israeli motion solution provider Servotronix Motion Control. Midea also acquired an 80 percent stake in Italian air conditioner maker Clivet SpA and bought the white home appliance products business of Japanese home appliance manufacturer Toshiba Corp in 2016.

The traditional home appliance market is almost saturated and companies need to seek new growth points, said Dong Min, an independent researcher of the home appliances sector.

“Expansion into overseas markets could not only relieve the pressure of high inventory in the domestic market but increase the international influence of Chinese home appliance companies.”

Midea announced in 2018 it would invest 13.5 billion Indian rupees over the next five years to set up a science and technology park in India. Covering an area of roughly 270,000 square meters, the project is estimated to generate direct and indirect employment opportunities for more than 2,000 people.

The park will produce 500,000 refrigerators, washing machines, water purifiers and water heaters respectively, 1.5 million household air conditioners, 250,000 commercial air conditioners, and 4.5 million air conditioner compressors annually.

LG InstaView™ is a Door-in-Door® refrigerator

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LG InstaView™ is a Door-in-Door® refrigerator offering easy access to food and an adjustable bin that fits snacks and drinks of all sizes. With this model, user can look inside the fridge without ever opening the door—just knock twice on the unique glass panel. Moreover, InstaView™ features dual ice makers with Craft Ice™ automatically create crushed, cubed and LG’s exclusive slow-melting round ice on demand for upscale, craft drinks at home – without the work. An additional ice maker on the refrigerator door dispenses traditional cubed or crushed ice with the push of a button. The model also offers 3 cooling technologies that work together to extend the life of fruits and vegetables and help keep all foods fresh: Linear Cooling keeps temperatures within 1°F of the setting, Smart Cooling uses sensors and vents for total cooling control, and Door Cooling+ delivers blasts of cool air to all areas of the refrigerator. LG InstaView™ is available in different variants, including Side-By-Side, French 3-Door and 4-Door models, plus a variety of finishes, depths and price points.

Hisense and Gorenje committed to protect their staff from the virus

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Hisense Europe Group (HEG) management and representatives of trade unions at the plants in Slovenia (Velenje), Serbia (Valjevo) and the Czech Republic (Mariánské údolí) are united and committed to their intention to protect the health of all employees across Europe during the coronavirus pandemic. HEG management and representatives of trade unions at plants in Slovenia, Serbia and the Czech Republic have urged their employees to strictly abide by the preventive measures against spreading of COVID-19 that were imposed to benefit each individual employee as well as the entire company. HEG continues to work closely with healthcare authorities in all countries it operates in, strictly following all the measures imposed by local authorities.

«Our common response to the current pandemic – reads the statement signed by the HEG management and trade unions in all three countries – is the zero-tolerance approach to the violation of prescribed measures. Behaving responsibly is the only way that can help us maintain our health during the pandemic, which is a major challenge the entire world is facing. We have been investing all our efforts in making sure our employees are well-educated about the importance of strict implementation of all measures, both in the plants and outside them. Together, we urge all employees to practice discipline, physical and social distancing even outside the plants, and thus help contain the spreading of the virus.»
The Group ensures that “HEG plants, as well as all other organizational units throughout Europe, have been following strict preventive measures since day one of the pandemic: physical distancing, mandatory use of disinfection barriers, regular disinfecting of hands and work areas, measuring body temperature at the entrance, and wearing protective masks provided by the company. Protective barriers have been installed in all our plants; they prevent physical contact wherever possible, premises are regularly disinfected, and meetings are held online or with mandatory proper physical distancing.”

Samsung tipped to log strong Q3 earnings on solid chip biz, mobile sales recovery

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Samsung Electronics Co. is expected to report strong third-quarter earnings, analysts here said Monday, as its mainstay semiconductor business remained solid despite a decline in memory prices, while its mobile and home appliance sales soared on pent-up demand amid the pandemic.

Samsung was projected to log 63.95 trillion won (US$54.5 billion) in sales in the July-September period, up 3.1 percent from a year earlier, while operating profit was estimated to surge 33.7 percent on-year to 10.4 trillion won over the period, according to Yonhap Infomax, the financial news arm of Yonhap News Agency, which compiled data from 17 brokerage houses.

Should Samsung meet the consensus, the tech giant will post its best quarterly performance since the fourth quarter of 2018, when it logged an operating profit of 10.8 trillion won.

An outdoor sign of Samsung Electronics Co. at the company's office building in Seoul (Yonhap)
This file photo taken Aug. 7, 2020, shows Samsung Electronics Co.'s Galaxy Note 20 smartphones displayed at a store in Seoul. (Yonhap)
This file photo taken April 29, 2020, shows a customer looking at Samsung Electronics Co.'s QLED TVs at a store in Seoul. (Yonhap)

An outdoor sign of Samsung Electronics Co. at the company’s office building in Seoul (Yonhap)1 of 4hide caption

Compared with the previous quarter, the estimated figure suggests Samsung seeing a 20.7 percent increase in sales and a 27.6 percent jump in operating profit.

Samsung, the world’s leading memory chip and smartphone producer, is expected to announce its third-quarter earnings guidance next week.

Analysts have been raising their earnings outlook for Samsung in recent weeks after they assessed that its chip business is not likely to suffer a big drop in sales despite a decline in memory prices prompted by an excess in inventory.

Server DRAM products in the third quarter were projected to suffer a 10-15 percent price drop in the third quarter, according to market researcher TrendForce, which also estimated that prices for mobile DRAM and consumer DRAM chips to see up to an 8 percent and maximum 10 percent decline, respectively.

However, rush orders from Huawei Technologies Co., the world’s top telecom equipment maker and No. 2 smartphone producer, apparently helped Samsung’s chip business to stay afloat.

Analysts predicted Samsung’s chip business to post an operating profit of around 5 trillion won in the third quarter of the year.

Huawei, one of Samsung’s five largest customers, has been aggressively procuring semiconductors ahead of the U.S. export restrictions that have been in place since Sept. 15.

“Bit growth for DRAM and NAND flash is expected to mark 3 percent and 12 percent quarter-on-quarter increases, respectively, better than its previous guidance,” said Kim Kyung-min, an analyst at Hana Financial Investment.

“Rush orders from its Chinese client, along with a better yield rate and increased wafer input from the expansion of its Xian plant, pushed up the growth,” she said.

Analysts also predicted that Samsung’s foundry business logged growth in the third quarter. The company reportedly secured orders from Qualcomm and Nvidia to manufacture their latest chips.

Samsung’s mobile business was tipped to see a big improvement in its earnings with increased smartphone sales and reduced marketing costs.

Many analysts here predicted that Samsung’s mobile business logged 4 trillion won in operating profit in the third quarter, more than double its second-quarter operating profit of 1.95 trillion won.

Samsung’s Galaxy smartphone sales were estimated to be around 80 million units in the third quarter, about a 50 percent increase from the previous quarter, while that of tablets reached 10 million units, roughly 45 percent higher than the second quarter, analysts added.

“It appears that Samsung has performed well amid Huawei’s struggle and Apple’s new iPhone launch delay, while its tablet sales benefited from a stay-at-home trend,” said Song Myung-sub, an analyst at Hi Investment & Securities. “With decreased marketing costs amid the pandemic, the mobile business unit’s operating margin is expected to be around 10.5 percent in the third quarter.”

Samsung’s home appliance business was also tipped to get a boost from pent-up demand amid the pandemic-driven stay-at-home economy with a sharp increase in its TV sales.

Some analysts even predicted the company’s consumer electronics unit to post over 1 trillion won in operating profit in the third quarter, its best quarterly performance since the second quarter of 2016.

“Considering TV shipments in July and August, it appears that Samsung’s third-quarter TV shipments have posted a better growth than the company’s earlier estimate of a 40 percent increase from the previous quarter,” said Lee Seung-woo, an analyst at Eugene Securities.

According to a recent report from market tracker Omdia, the global QLED TV market, led by Samsung, was projected to grow to 2.44 million units in the third quarter, up 83.9 percent from a year earlier.

Samsung’s display business was projected to post mediocre earnings in the third quarter due to the delayed launch of Apple’s new iPhone 12 series.