Flat screen prices could be set to drop

The company said earnings for the three months to June were up 85% on the year before to 494.4bn won ($428m, �228m).

LG's mobile phones were also in demand, the firm said, pushing it to the number six spot in world mobile sales.

But global output of flat screens for TVs and computers is rising, a factor which cut demand for LG's $1bn share sale last week amid fears of a glut.

Samsung has predicted prices could fall as much as 20% in the second half of the year - although sliding prices for technology products as they move further into the general market are nothing new.

Sale

The initial public offering had been intended to be a third bigger, and the price was set at the bottom of the range.

In all, the sum raised was little more than half the expected maximum.

But it still means valuable extra funding for LG's joint venture with Philips to produce flat screens.

LG Philips, which starts trading on the New York Stock Exchange and the Korea Stock Exchange on 23 July, is the world's second largest LCD screen maker behind Samsung.

The cash will fund a seventh factory to take advantage of the switch from bulky cathode-ray tube monitors to flat screens.