LG Display reported unaudited earnings results based on consolidated K-IFRS (International Financial Reporting Standards) for the three-month period ending September 30, 2019. Revenues in the third quarter of 2019 increased by 9% to KRW 5,822 billion from KRW 5,353 billion in the second quarter of 2019 and decreased by 5% from KRW 6,103 billion in the third quarter of 2018.
Operating loss in the third quarter of 2019 recorded KRW 437 billion. This compares with the operating loss of KRW 369 billion in the second quarter of 2019 and the operating profit of KRW 140 billion in the third quarter of 2018.
EBITDA in the third quarter of 2019 was KRW 612 billion, compared with EBITDA of KRW 458 billion in the second quarter of 2019 and with EBITDA of KRW 1,020 billion in the third quarter of 2018. Net loss in the third quarter of 2019 was KRW 442 billion, compared with the net loss of KRW 550 billion in the second quarter of 2019 and the net income of KRW 18 billion in the third quarter of 2018. LG Display recorded KRW 5,822 billion in revenues in the third quarter of 2019, a quarter-on-quarter increase of 9% from KRW 5,353 billion, driven by increased sales of mobile panels as the company’s business in Plastic OLED (POLED) with higher prices per square meter has started in earnest.
The company registered KRW 437 billion in operating loss in the third quarter, compared with the previous quarter’s operating loss of KRW 369 billion, as LCD TV panel prices declined steeper than market expectations, the company reduced the utilization rate of its LCD TV panel production lines, and the depreciation cost of the company’s new POLED plant increased.
Panels for TVs accounted for 32% of the revenue in the third quarter of 2019, 9% down from the previous quarter due to the reduced utilization rate of LCD TV panel plants, while those for mobile devices accounted for 28%, 9% up quarter-on-quarter, driven by an increase in POLED sales. Panels for tablets and notebook PCs accounted for 21% and desktop monitors for 18% respectively.
LG Display recorded 161% in the liability-to-equity ratio, 101% in the current ratio, and 74% in the net debt-to-equity ratio as of September 30, 2019. The increased ratios of liability-to-equity and net debt-to-equity compared with the previous quarter were mainly due to the company’s strategic investment into its shift towards an OLED-focused business structure.
“LG Display has been innovating its business structure in order to further strengthen the company’s fundamental and differentiated competitiveness,” said Dong-hee Suh, CFO and Senior Vice President of LG Display. “We will make efforts to find ways to strengthen our competitiveness in the LCD panel business from a long-term perspective by downsizing LCD TV panel production lines. We will further strengthen our capability in the areas of IT, Commercial, and Automotive displays where LG Display will be able to develop differentiated LCD products.”
He added, “We will step up our efforts to accelerate the trend for large-size OLED displays by highlighting their premium value and continue to maintain efforts to stabilize the POLED business. LG Display will try to wrap up the structural improvement of its LCD business as soon as possible and will communicate with the market by setting up a long-term vision focusing on technologies and products that can provide differentiated value.”
