LG Household & Health projects best-ever 2020, Amorepacific OP likely down 63%

The History of Whoo

South Korean beauty giants LG Household & Health Care Ltd. and Amorepacific Corp. anticipate mixed results for 2020 as LG enjoyed a boon from hygiene products during the year of masks and virus.

The country’s top beauty and personal care brand LG Household & Health Care this week will turn out record earnings for the full year on the back of brisk sales in China in the latter half of last year.

According to financial market tracker FnGuide Inc. on Sunday, LG Household and Health Care’s operating profit is estimated to have reached 1.2 trillion won ($1.09 billion) in 2020, up 4.25 percent from the previous year, and sales 7.8 trillion won, up 2.05 percent. The consensus for its net profit was also up 6.27 percent at 837.6 billion won.

In the fourth quarter alone, LG Household and Health Care is estimated to have raised 2.09 trillion won in sales, up 3.94 percent from the same period a year ago, and 261.8 billion won in operating profit, up 8.62 percent, to replace record high quarterly earnings reported in the previous three-month period.

The company’s strong performance was led by brisk sales of cosmetics in China that offset losses from duty-free shops.

Six cosmetics brands under LG Household & Health Care – The History of Whoo, SUM37, O HUI, Belif, VDL, and CNP – saw sales surge 174 percent on year to a record 1.55 billion yuan ($239 million) during a Singles Day shopping event carried out by China’s biggest e-commerce Alibaba Group in November.

Amorepacific, however, is estimated to have raised 4.4 trillion won in sales in last year, down 20.66 percent from the previous year, according to FnGuide. Its operating profit is also estimated to have plunged 63.04 percent to 158.1 billion won.

In the fourth quarter, Amorepacific is estimated to have raised 5.5 billion won in operating income, down 88.07 percent from the same period a year ago, on sales of 1.15 trillion won, down 13.54 percent.

Market insiders noted that the fall in operating income was mainly due to one-off cost related to Amorepacific’s voluntary retirement program last year for the first time since its inception.

The company, however, is expected to see a rebound in earnings this year, according to market analysts.

Ahn Ji-young, a market analyst at IBK Securities Co., said that Amorepacific will be able to improve its corporate value this year after carrying out corporate reorganization that focuses on its key brands as well as company-wide restructuring and efforts to improve brand value.

Shares of LG Household & Health Care closed Monday 7.3 percent higher at 1,676,000 won, and those of Amorepacific up 3.36 percent 246,000 won.

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