LG Electronics named Europe and North America as the overseas markets that kept sales at its heating, ventilation and air conditioning business level in the third quarter of 2026, even as operating profit at that unit fell 34.4% to KRW 87.2 billion, according to results the Seoul-based company published on October 28, 2026.

That is close to the full extent of what the quarter's figures say about Europe. LG reported consolidated revenue of KRW 23.82 trillion and operating profit of KRW 781.9 billion for the three months to September, but neither its newsroom announcement nor its earnings presentation divides revenue by region. Europe is named twice across the two: once as a source of commercial HVAC demand, and once in connection with an EU cybersecurity testing designation the company obtained from TÜV Rheinland. Nothing is disclosed about European television sales, European revenue from the company's TV operating system, or advertising income in any market.

In Short

LG, the South Korean maker of TVs, fridges and air conditioners, made more money from July to September 2026 than a year earlier, largely because its TV business stopped losing money. Europe barely features in the results: LG says business customers in Europe and North America kept its air conditioning sales flat, but profit in that unit still fell by about a third. For anyone buying ads on LG smart TVs in Europe, the results say the TV software business is growing but give no European figure for it. LG also expects fewer TVs to be sold worldwide in the last three months of the year.

Where Europe appears in the numbers

LG reports by business unit, not by geography. The four units are the Home Appliance Solution (HS) Company, the Media Entertainment Solution (MS) Company, which runs televisions, the Vehicle Solution (VS) Company and the Eco Solution (ES) Company, which covers HVAC and data centre cooling. Consolidated figures also include LG Innotek, a listed subsidiary.

When the company does name regions, Europe is mostly absent. The home appliance unit says its growth depends on "Two-Track and Global South strategies", and LG's group-level strategy for the coming quarters is to "strengthen localization in regions with relatively high economic growth, including the Global South." The television unit credits "rising demand in the emerging markets." The subscription business, which rents and services appliances, is expanding into the Middle East, Malaysia and Thailand. The only new production site identified by location, a base for data centre cooling equipment, is in the United States, "near major AIDC clusters."

The outlook language is general. LG expects "uncertainties over interest rates, raw material prices, and exchange rates" to persist in the fourth quarter, "with regional demand diverging further." For home appliances it forecasts "significant divergence in demand between regions affected by persistent geopolitical risks and regions benefiting from the rise of AI." Which of those two groups Europe belongs to is not stated. The third-quarter headwinds the company did name were "the war in the Middle East and rising interest rates in major markets."

The figures were prepared before review by external auditors, according to LG, and may change during the final audit.

Eco Solution: overseas demand holds sales, profit falls

The ES Company reported revenue of KRW 2.17 trillion, up 0.3% from KRW 2.167 trillion a year earlier and down 20.3% from KRW 2.73 trillion in the second quarter. Operating profit fell to KRW 87.2 billion from KRW 132.9 billion, a decline of 34.4% by PPC Land's calculation. The operating margin dropped to 4.0% from 6.1% a year earlier and from 8.6% in the previous quarter.

LG's explanation splits cleanly by geography. At home, it cites "weak domestic consumer sentiment and a prolonged slump in the construction sector." Abroad, the company says it "strengthened our response to commercial HVAC demand in overseas markets such as North America and Europe." Profit, by LG's account, fell "mainly due to lower sales in the Korean market and higher investment and labor costs related to new growth businesses."

The two publications describe the sales result differently. The earnings presentation says sales "held steady" year on year. The newsroom announcement says "Sales increased, led by overseas commercial HVAC markets." Both are consistent with a 0.3% rise, though only one calls it growth.

Over nine months the picture is weaker. ES revenue for January to September 2026 totalled KRW 7.72 trillion, 1.8% below the KRW 7.87 trillion of the same period in 2025, and operating profit fell 27.7% to KRW 571.5 billion from KRW 790.1 billion, both PPC Land calculations from LG's quarterly tables. The fourth quarter has recently been difficult for this unit: in the final three months of 2025 it lost KRW 142.8 billion on revenue of KRW 1.46 trillion.

Data centre cooling: a US base, no European project named

The new investment in this unit is aimed at data centre cooling. Cumulative orders for AI data centre (AIDC) cooling solutions passed KRW 3 trillion by the end of the third quarter, up from about KRW 600 billion at the end of June, according to the newsroom announcement. That is a fivefold increase in three months. LG is investing about KRW 220 billion to expand production capacity, including what it calls "a strategic manufacturing base in the United States near major AIDC clusters."

The presentation lists three supporting developments. LG signed a supply contract with AIR Control Concepts for cooling solutions for a 5GW AIDC project, described as a long-term supply agreement. It obtained qualification from NVIDIA for its 600kW, 1MW and 2.6MW coolant distribution units, and says its 2.6MW unit is now "DSX Ready." No European data centre project, customer or production site appears in either publication.

For the fourth quarter, LG expects the ES market to "remain challenging as uncertainties such as the war in the Middle East persist and competition intensifies." In Korea the company plans to focus on "subscription and D2C marketing." Overseas, it will make "timely delivery of large-scale AIDC cooling projects its top priority," according to the newsroom announcement.

The TV business swings back to profit

For readers in advertising, the MS Company matters most. It makes LG's televisions, monitors and audio products and runs webOS, the operating system on LG smart TVs and the layer on which LG sells advertising.

MS revenue reached KRW 5.02 trillion, up 7.9% from KRW 4.65 trillion a year earlier and down 1.8% from the second quarter. Operating profit was KRW 146.7 billion, against a loss of KRW 302.6 billion in the third quarter of 2025, a swing of KRW 449.3 billion. The operating margin moved from minus 6.5% to 2.9%.

That swing was larger than the group's entire year-on-year profit increase of KRW 93.0 billion. Excluding MS, the rest of the group's combined operating profit fell by about KRW 356 billion. Over nine months, MS earned KRW 737.9 billion in operating profit against a loss of KRW 489.4 billion in the same period of 2025. Both are PPC Land calculations. The unit lost KRW 750.9 billion across all of 2025.

LG gives three reasons for the higher revenue: "stronger premium TV sales, growth in the webOS platform business, and rising demand in the emerging markets." The newsroom announcement names OLED televisions as the premium products concerned. The profit drivers LG lists in its presentation are "a higher share of premium products, lower material costs, efficient use of marketing resources, and other initiatives to enhance cost competitiveness."

The phrase about marketing resources stands out against the rest of the group. The home appliance unit, in the same quarter, cited "higher marketing costs to strengthen our brand position" as one reason its profit fell. Group selling and administrative expenses rose 10.6% year on year to KRW 5.03 trillion, or 21.1% of revenue, according to LG's income statement. The company does not break marketing spending out of that line.

A margin that narrows each quarter

The year-on-year comparison flatters the trend. MS posted an operating margin of 7.2% in the first quarter of 2026, 4.3% in the second and 2.9% in the third. Profit fell 33.1% from the second quarter to the third.

The outlook does not suggest a reversal. "Cost pressure continues as prices of core components, such as memory and LCD panels, rise and supply chain uncertainties persist," LG says in its presentation. "With consumer sentiment remaining weak due to high oil prices and interest rates, we expect TV demand to decline YoY." Lower material costs helped the third quarter; rising component prices are expected to work against the fourth. LG says it will respond by improving cost competitiveness and operational efficiency, and that it "will increase investment and strengthen execution to deliver differentiated customer value and secure future competitiveness."

What the TV figures leave out

LG does not publish a revenue figure for webOS, for its advertising arm LG Ad Solutions, or for LG Channels, its free streaming service. Nor does it say how many webOS devices are active, in Europe or elsewhere. "Growth in the webOS platform business" is the only reference to the platform in either publication.

Other disclosures give a sense of scale. LG Ad Solutions, incorporated as Alphonso Inc., reported first-quarter 2026 sales of KRW 273.698 billion and profit of KRW 32.646 billion, as PPC Land noted in its September coverage of LG televisions mapping the home network and sending about 4GB of viewing data a month. Measured against the MS unit's first-quarter revenue of KRW 5.17 trillion and operating profit of KRW 371.8 billion, those figures equal about 5.3% and 8.8% respectively, by PPC Land's calculation. LG does not state whether Alphonso's results sit inside the MS segment, so the ratios indicate size rather than share.

The same coverage cited a webOS installed base of 200 million LG smart TVs as of October 2025. Omdia figures cited at LG's 2024 webOS Summit put webOS at 11.7% of the global TV operating system market in 2023, behind Android TV at 42.2%.

How LG's TV screens are sold in Europe

In much of continental Europe, LG does not sell the most prominent advertising slot on its televisions directly. On April 23, 2026, LG and Teads renewed their CTV HomeScreen exclusivity, making Teads the sole point of access for LG's home screen inventory in 17 European markets: France, Belgium, Germany, Austria and Switzerland, which were already covered; Italy, Greece and Cyprus, which were added; and Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia and Slovenia. The partnership began in France and Belgium. The April announcement did not include the United Kingdom, Spain, the Netherlands or the Nordic countries, and it did not say who sells LG's home screen there.

Home screen advertising is the placement a viewer sees when the television is switched on, before any app opens. LG Ad Solutions said in November 2025 that general-market advertisers using its home screen placements rose more than 60% year over year, and that 97% of LG smart TV users begin viewing on the home screen, about three times a day.

Teads' own finances have been under strain. On August 6, 2026, Teads suspended its full-year 2026 guidance after second-quarter revenue fell 17% to $284.6 million, even as its CTV revenue grew 67% and rose to 13% of the total. The company that controls access to LG's home screen across much of Europe is therefore growing its television business while its overall revenue shrinks.

Outside Europe, the arrangements differ. On October 14, 2026, LG Ad Solutions extended its Magnite partnership by three years, keeping Magnite's SpringServe as its exclusive CTV video ad server and naming Magnite a preferred programmatic partner across North America, APAC and EMEA. The first agentic purchase of LG home screen inventory through Magnite ran for Toyota dealers in Northern California. Which markets that agentic offer covers was not specified.

FAST and rival operating systems

LG Channels belongs to the FAST category of free, ad-supported linear channels, and European adoption of such services varies widely. A ShowHeroes and Omnicom Media Netherlands study of 4,377 people, published on March 24, 2026, put FAST household adoption at 27% across six European markets, with the United Kingdom and Italy at 37%, Germany at 26%, France at 23% and the Netherlands at 16%.

Competition for the European living room also includes operating systems built in Europe. In March 2026, Philips moved all of its 2026 television models from Google TV to Titan OS, a platform headquartered in Barcelona whose advertising arm, Titan Ads, reaches more than 30 million streaming households across Europe. None of this appears in LG's results, which do not compare webOS with other platforms.

Data, privacy and the EU rulebook

The second European reference in the results concerns regulation. LG says it "obtained TÜV Rheinland's qualification as a designated EU cybersecurity testing lab, allowing us to run related tests in-house and reduce product development and certification time and cost." The company does not say which EU framework the testing serves. Two are relevant to connected consumer electronics: cybersecurity requirements for internet-connected radio equipment under the Radio Equipment Directive have applied since August 1, 2025, and the main obligations of the Cyber Resilience Act apply from December 11, 2027.

Data rules matter too. Under the EU Data Act, makers of connected products must design them so that users can directly access the data they generate, where technically possible. PPC Land tied that obligation to September 12, 2026, when it described how the Data Act reshapes connected device rules for marketers.

LG's televisions have faced fresh scrutiny over data this autumn. A Gamers Nexus investigation published on September 7, 2026, tested US retail units and found, as PPC Land reported, that one LG TV mapped 38 devices on the network it was plugged into, while the sets sent roughly four gigabytes of ACR data per television per month. A follow-up found that an LG TV sent street-level location to its ad arm 20 times a minute over HDMI. LG disputed the claims. PPC Land's coverage noted that European exposure runs through LG Electronics Deutschland GmbH in Eschborn, Hesse, which makes the Hessian data protection commissioner the competent authority. The third-quarter results do not mention automatic content recognition, Alphonso or the investigation.

Two certifications listed in the presentation come from UK-based bodies. LG says its OLED TVs earned Carbon Trust's carbon footprint certification for the sixth consecutive year, and that all of its 2026 new models received Intertek's resource efficiency certification.

The smart home, minus the EU

LG's AI Home ambitions show the same gap. In its results, the company says it plans to work "with leading global technology companies to build an AI Home ecosystem based on the latest Internet of Things (IoT) technologies." On October 13, LG announced smart home accessories designed with Apple. As PPC Land reported, Apple will sell nine LG and Schneider smart home devices from December in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom, at prices from $39.95 to $399.95. No accessory was listed for any EU country.

The rest of the group, briefly

Group revenue of KRW 23.82 trillion was up 8.9% from KRW 21.87 trillion a year earlier and flat against the second quarter. Operating profit of KRW 781.9 billion was 13.5% higher than the KRW 688.9 billion of the third quarter of 2025, but roughly half the KRW 1.58 trillion of the second quarter. The operating margin was 3.3%, against 3.1% a year earlier and 6.6% in the previous quarter. For the first nine months, revenue reached KRW 71.38 trillion, up 9.2%, and operating profit KRW 4.03 trillion, up 55.9%.

Excluding LG Innotek, LG's revenue rose 5.6% to KRW 17.57 trillion and operating profit 47.1% to KRW 703.6 billion, a 4.0% margin. LG Innotek's revenue climbed 18.6% to KRW 6.37 trillion while its operating profit fell to KRW 94.8 billion from KRW 203.8 billion.

Appliances and vehicles

The HS Company reported revenue of KRW 7.04 trillion, up 7.0%, its second consecutive quarter above KRW 7 trillion. Operating profit dropped to KRW 259.2 billion from KRW 364.7 billion, a fall of 28.9%, and the margin narrowed to 3.7% from 5.5%. LG attributes the decline to "a short-term rise in logistics costs and higher marketing costs." Its presentation describes the fall as operating income having "declined slightly YoY", and the newsroom announcement says the unit "maintained stable profitability." The quarter-on-quarter fall, from KRW 685.9 billion, was 62.2%. LG expects "global appliance demand recovery" to "remain limited" in the fourth quarter.

The VS Company, which supplies in-vehicle infotainment and other automotive electronics, posted record third-quarter figures: revenue of KRW 2.83 trillion, up 6.8%, and operating profit of KRW 190.3 billion, up 27.2%, for a 6.7% margin. LG says the unit has held profitability "at mid-single-digit levels or higher for seven consecutive quarters." It expects automotive demand recovery to remain limited, "given stagnant EV demand."

B2B, subscriptions and cash

B2B revenue grew 3.4% year on year to KRW 6.1 trillion, driven by automotive electronics and commercial displays, and made up 35% of total revenue. Subscription revenue, covering product subscriptions and maintenance services, rose 8.6% to KRW 760 billion, and 11% from the second quarter. LG calls its overseas subscription operation "still in the early stages of global expansion." No European subscription market is named.

Net income was KRW 708.4 billion, up 53.7% from KRW 461.0 billion, helped by a KRW 306.5 billion gain on equity-method investments against a KRW 14.5 billion loss a year earlier. Cash and cash equivalents fell to KRW 8.26 trillion at the end of September from KRW 10.07 trillion three months earlier. Operating cash flow was KRW 620.5 billion, down from KRW 2.45 trillion in the second quarter, and exchange rate movements reduced cash by KRW 972.2 billion. Debt fell by KRW 1.03 trillion to KRW 11.83 trillion. Equity declined by KRW 2.36 trillion in the quarter to KRW 29.56 trillion; the presentation does not explain the change.

Shareholder returns

LG plans to cancel all 730,000 treasury shares repurchased this year within the fourth quarter. The shares, 588,589 common and 141,840 preferred, were bought under a KRW 100 billion programme completed in July 2026. The company paid an interim dividend of KRW 500 per common and preferred share in August and cancelled 6,442 treasury shares in April. Its stated policy for 2024 to 2026 is to return more than 25% of net profit, excluding one-off items, with a minimum of KRW 1,000 per common share a year. LG also says it will make additional shareholder returns of around KRW 100 billion in 2027.

LG held its earnings call in Korean and English on October 28, 2026, at 16:00 Korea Standard Time.

Why this matters for marketers in Europe

LG's televisions carry an advertising business that buyers in much of continental Europe reach through a single intermediary. The third-quarter results confirm that the TV unit is profitable again and that LG credits webOS for part of its revenue growth. They do not show how much of that growth came from Europe, how much came from advertising, or how many European screens are involved.

What the results do show is direction. LG's stated growth regions are the Global South, emerging markets, the Middle East and South-East Asia. The only new production site it locates is a US base for data centre cooling equipment. Its only European commercial reference is to HVAC demand. And its TV outlook points to lower year-on-year demand in the fourth quarter as component costs rise. In 2025, the fourth quarter brought the MS unit its highest revenue of the year, KRW 5.43 trillion.

For European buyers of connected TV inventory, the practical questions sit with the companies that sell it. Teads controls LG home screen access in 17 European markets and has suspended its own guidance. Magnite's agentic route to LG home screens was launched with a Californian campaign. The competent data protection authority for LG's European processing sits in Wiesbaden, in Hesse. How much a weaker TV market in the fourth quarter reduces new webOS screens in European homes is a question the results leave unanswered.

Timeline

Summary

Who: LG Electronics Inc., the Seoul-based maker of televisions, appliances, vehicle electronics and HVAC systems, through its HS, MS, VS and ES business units and its subsidiary LG Innotek. Teads, which sells LG's home screen advertising in 17 European markets, and LG Ad Solutions, LG's advertising arm, are part of the context.

What: LG reported third-quarter 2026 revenue of KRW 23.82 trillion and operating profit of KRW 781.9 billion. Its ES unit, which named Europe and North America as sources of commercial HVAC demand, saw operating profit fall 34.4% to KRW 87.2 billion on flat sales. The MS television unit swung to a KRW 146.7 billion profit, crediting premium TVs, webOS platform growth and emerging markets. LG gave no revenue breakdown by region and no figures for webOS or advertising.

When: The results were published on October 28, 2026, covering July to September 2026, with an earnings call the same day at 16:00 Korea Standard Time. LG's outlook covers the fourth quarter of 2026.

Where: LG is headquartered in Seoul. Europe appears in the results only as an overseas HVAC market and through an EU cybersecurity testing designation. LG's stated growth regions are the Global South, emerging markets, the Middle East and South-East Asia, and its new cooling equipment base is in the United States.

Why: For European advertisers and publishers, LG's televisions are a major connected TV platform, sold in much of Europe through Teads. The results show the TV business recovering and webOS growing, but with a margin that has narrowed for three straight quarters and a forecast of lower TV demand in the fourth quarter, they leave open how much of the recovery reaches European screens.