LG Uplus disclosed that, under Korean International Financial Reporting Standards (K-IFRS), its operating revenue for 2017 reached 9.4062 trillion won, a 4.2% increase from the previous year driven by stable growth in its wired and wireless businesses, and its operating profit reached 826.3 billion won, a 10.7% increase from the previous year due to increased operating revenue and efficient cost execution.

Total revenue recorded 12.2794 trillion won, an increase of 7.2% from the previous year.

Net profit reached 547.1 billion won, an 11.0% increase from the previous year driven by improved earnings, and the board of directors resolved to raise the dividend per share from 350 won last year to 400 won this year. This continues LG Uplus's commitment to enhancing shareholder value by maintaining a dividend payout ratio of approximately 30% of net profit.

In 2017, wireless revenue among operating revenues recorded 5.5702 trillion won, a 2.5% increase from the previous year, driven by an increase in wireless service revenue due to the continued net increase in high-value LTE subscribers.

In 2016, LG Uplus had 10.97 million LTE subscribers, accounting for 88% of its total wireless subscribers, but in 2017, this number reached 12.138 million, or 92% of wireless subscribers. The securing of high-quality wireless subscribers, which drove wireless revenue growth, is attributed to factors such as the launch of innovative rate plans and handset discount programs.

Wired revenue, which drove the increase in performance along with wireless revenue, also reached 3.8013 trillion won, up 6.6% from the previous year due to factors such as increased revenue from the TPS business and data business.

In particular, IPTV subscribers increased by 15.6% year-on-year to 3.539 million, and IPTV revenue rose by 21.8% year-on-year to 745.6 billion won. Driven by IPTV revenue growth, TPS revenue, which accounts for the largest share of wired revenue, recorded 1.7695 trillion won, an 11.7% increase from the previous year.

Data revenue recorded 1.6764 trillion won, growing 4.9% year-on-year due to factors such as increased e-Biz and IDC revenue, driving the performance growth of the wired business along with the TPS business.

The increase in revenue from the IPTV business, cited as a major growth factor for the wired business division, is attributed to the acquisition of new subscribers and the expansion of UHD customers driven by strengthened content competitiveness, such as the launch of the children ^'s service platform 'U+ tv Kids' World,' 'Vivid Nature Learning' utilizing AR, and the exclusive provision of National Geographic kids' documentaries.

The financial structure has further improved due to factors such as increased profits and a reduction in borrowings. The net borrowing ratio recorded 54.7%, a decrease of 20.8 percentage points from the previous year, while the debt ratio recorded 128.1%, a decrease of 20.3 percentage points from the previous year.

In 2017, marketing expenses amounted to 2.171 trillion won, an 11.2% increase from the previous year, driven by factors such as increased total sales in the wireless business and sales of premium terminals. LG Uplus plans to streamline marketing costs by focusing on fundamental value that provides tangible benefits to customers.

Annual CAPEX in 2017 amounted to 1.1378 trillion won, driven by factors such as the stabilization of wired and wireless investments.

Meanwhile, in the fourth quarter of 2017, revenue reached 3.3282 trillion won, an increase of 6.6% year-on-year and 8.8% quarter-on-quarter, and operating revenue reached 2.4044 trillion won, an increase of 2.2% year-on-year and 1.1% quarter-on-quarter.

Operating profit for the fourth quarter was 201.3 billion won, up 9.2% year-on-year and down 6.0% from the previous quarter, while net profit was 135.6 billion won, up 15.0% year-on-year and down 5.0% from the previous quarter.

LG Uplus plans to continue its stable upward trend by focusing on home media businesses such as IPTV, IoT, and AI, as well as new businesses like 5G in 2018, to discover future growth engines.

LG Uplus is strengthening its competitiveness in the home media business, including IPTV and Home IoT utilizing AI, by introducing 'U ⁺ Our Home AI,' an AI smart home service incorporating Naver Clova. The company plans to make customers' lives more convenient by providing differentiated value through set-top box AI function updates and personalized home services based on big data.

Last year, Home IoT became the first in the world to secure 1 million cumulative subscribers, recording the unrivaled number one position in domestic subscribers. This year, the strategy is to solidify the number one position in the domestic market by providing differentiated services in the Home IoT sector, while also preempting the market in B2B sectors such as Utility, Industrial IoT, and Smart City through NB-IoT technology standards.

In addition, seeing 2018 as the inaugural year of the 5G victory that will determine future competitiveness, we plan to establish a 5G Promotion Team through organizational restructuring and introduce 5G services that all citizens can enjoy. We plan to concentrate our organizational capabilities to closely review frequency strategy formulation, equipment vendor selection, and coverage investment, and to thoroughly prepare to provide differentiated, high-quality 5G services to continue leading the market.

LG Uplus CFO (Chief Financial Officer) Lee Hyuk-joo, Vice President, stated, “We will do our best to improve our financial structure and enhance shareholder value by continuing our upward trend through profit generation in our core business as well as discovering future growth engines in new businesses such as AI and 5G.”