LG Electronics Inc. on Wednesday reported its first quarterly operating loss in six years as it failed to revive its money-losing smartphone business amid weaker sales of home appliances. 
LG posted an operating loss of 35.2 billion won (US$30.1 million) for the October-December period last year, compared with a profit of 348.9 billion won for the same quarter in 2015, the company said in a regulatory filing, reported by Yonhap news agency. 
The result was in line with LG's prior earnings guidance that had predicted an operating loss of 35 billion won. 
Fourth-quarter sales rose 1.5% on year to 14.7 trillion won, LG said. 
Net loss widened to 258.7 trillion won for the fourth-quarter of last year, from a loss of 140.4 billion won for the same quarter in 2015. 
For all of 2016, LG posted an operating profit of 1.3 trillion won on sales of 55.3 trillion won, according to the filing. 
With its new smartphones failing to appeal to consumers amid tougher competition with Chinese brands, LG's smartphone division has posted operating losses since the third quarter of 2015.