SEOUL: LG Display Co Ltd yesterday said quarterly profit fell more than 50 per cent for the second time in three quarters, pulled down by a stronger South Korean won and subdued demand for personal computers (PC) and tablet devices.
The world’s No.1 maker of liquid crystal displays (LCD) had forecast a pick-up in panel shipments during April-June, while analysts were expecting stronger second-half earnings as TV demand in key markets improved.
LG Display, which counts affiliate LG Electronics Inc and Apple Inc as major customers, said shipments volume improved from a year earlier but that the average sales price of panels slipped further from January-March.
For April-June, LG Display reported a 55.4 per cent fall in operating profit to 163 billion won (RM504.76 million), compared with a 184 billion won mean estimate of 37 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. Revenue fell nine per cent year-on-year to six trillion won.
“With seasonal demand growth and the trend toward larger-size panels for TVs, we anticipate both revenues and profits to improve in the third quarter,” said LG Display chief financial officer Don Kim.
During the quarter, LG Display suffered from the strength of the local currency, which on average appreciated by more than nine per cent against the US dollar in April-June from a year earlier. That marked the biggest percentage gain since the third quarter of 2011.
Subdued demand for key electro-nics products also weighed on results. PC shipments were flat in April-June, according to researcher Gartner, which was better than analysts had expected but still showed that a major pickup may be some way off. Reuters