LG Electronics Inc. on Friday estimated its second-quarter operating profit soared more than 60 percent from a year earlier on robust sales of its key products, beating market expectations. Its operating profit came to 1.19 trillion won (US$868.1 million) for the April-June period, up 61.2 percent from a year earlier, the company said in a regulatory filing. Sales increased 8.5 percent on-year to 21.7 trillion won. The company did not provide the data for net income. The quarterly operating profit and sales both marked the largest amounts for any second-quarter results. The operating profit was 14.3 percent higher than the average estimate, according to a survey by Yonhap Infomax, the financial data firm of Yonhap News Agency. South Korea's home appliances giant said its better-than-expected bottom line was driven by an increase in sales of air conditioners and other home appliances. Steady growth in its business-to-business sectors, including electric vehicle components, subscriptions and heating, ven tilation and air conditioning (HVAC) businesses, also played a role in the three-month period, ending in June. Sales of its latest AI-powered LG WHISEN Stand Air Conditioner shot up 80 percent on-year in June, according to LG Electronics. Its TV and web content service businesses also contributed to the second quarter, it added. Its premium OLED TV sets experienced a rebound in sales in Europe despite rising prices of LCD panels, while the number of users of LG Channel, the company's web content service, topped 50 million in 28 countries across the world. LG Electronics is expanding its web content service to car in-vehicle infotainment systems and other IT products from TV. According to a report by KB Securities Co., LG Electronics' home appliance division earned 771.5 billion won in operating profit, followed by 125.4 billion won from TV and 105.8 billion won from EV parts. LG Electronics said its efforts to diversify its business portfolio and become a future-oriented company contributed to its stron g performance in the second quarter. The company will release its final earnings report later this month. Source: Yonhap News Agency