LG Philips LCD has drop in 3rd-quarter net income

LG Philips LCD Co., the world’s largest maker of liquid crystal displays, reported yesterday a 22 percent fall in its third-quarter net income because of weaker prices amid an industrywide glut. Net income totaled 227 billion won ($217.9 million) in the July-September period, compared with 291 billion won a year ago, LG Philips said in a regulatory filing. Operating profit fell 6.3 percent from a year ago to 240 billion won, but sales rose 46.2 percent to 2.74 trillion won, the company said. During the third quarter, LG Philips’s average LCD selling price per square meter stood at $2,121, compared with $2,857 a year ago. LG Philips, a joint venture between Korea’s LG Electronics Inc. and Royal Philips Electronics NV of the Netherlands, is the first to report third-quarter earnings in the $35 billion LCD industry.