SEOUL: South Korea's LG Electronics said Thursday its third-quarter net profit fell 34 percent from a year earlier due to growing competition and increased marketing costs.

The world's number two TV maker posed a net profit of 109 billion won ($103 million) in the July-September period, compared with 165 billion won a year earlier.

LG said sales rose 4.6 percent year-on-year to 13.89 trillion won, while operating profit was up 27 percent at 218 billion won.

The company said its mobile communications division posted an operating loss of 79.7 billion won in the third quarter, largely due to the cost of marketing its latest smartphone.