[THE INVESTOR] LG Household & Health Care on April 28 reported that its first-quarter earnings beat market estimates, shrugging off concerns over a setback from China’s boycott of Korea-made products.

The company posted 180.6 billion won (US$159 million) net profit in the January-March period, up 12.5 percent from a year ago.

The figure beat the earlier market consensus of 175.3 billion won estimated by local brokerages.

Its operating profit soared 11.3 percent to 260 billion won, while sales reached 1.6 trillion won, up 5.4 percent from a year ago.

By Alex Lee and newswires (alexlee@heraldcorp.com)