S.Korea's LG: Q1 loss on flagging phone sales

South Korea's LG Electronics, the world's third-largest mobile phone maker, said Wednesday it swung to a net loss in the first quarter compared to a year earlier on flagging sales of mobile phones and televisions. The net loss of 15.8 billion won ($14.6 million) contrasted with a net profit of 674.6 billion won a year earlier. It was the company's second straight quarterly net loss. Operating profit dwindled 73 percent to 130.8 billion from 481.1 billion won a year earlier. Sales edged down 0.4 percent on-year to 13.2 trillion won in January-March. Sales at its mobile handset division slid 9.2 percent year-on-year, with an operating loss of 101.1 billion won compared to a profit of 27.7 billion won a year earlier. LG has failed quickly to roll out smartphones to rival Apple's market-leading iPhone and Samsung Electronics' Galaxy S. Under CEO Koo Bon-Moo who took over last September, it is pushing its Optimus smartphones in an attempt to catch up. The home entertainment unit in charge of TVs saw the value of sales fall 4.8 percent from a year earlier. But sales of household appliances including refrigerators climbed 13.4 percent on booming demand from emerging markets including Russia and India, LG said in a statement.