S Korea's LG swings to first-quarter profit

South Korea's LG Electronics said Wednesday it swung to a net profit in the first three months of the year thanks to a marked improvement in its flat-screen TV and handset operations. The world's second-largest flat-screen TV maker by shipments after Samsung Electronics reported net profit of 242.5 billion won ($213.5 million) for January-March compared with a net loss of 15.77 billion a year earlier. LG had also reported net losses in the final two quarters of 2011. The company said in a statement it had "turned the corner" with the latest figure. First quarter operating profit was 448.18 billion won, compared with the 130.85 billion won profit a year earlier. Sales fell 7.1 percent to 12.228 trillion won. The net figure was better than the average 213 billion won profit forecast of five analysts polled by Dow Jones Newswires. Analysts expect earnings to keep growing thanks to a steady improvement across all its businesses, particularly televisions and smartphones. LG said the figure was "a direct result of the company"s efforts to innovate in all key business units and focus on high-performing products". It said its smartphone line-up would be further strengthened in the second quarter with the introduction of the L-Style series and quad-core models.