LG Display swings to profit in Q4 as OLED sales increase

LG Display on Wednesday said it shifted to a net profit in the fourth quarter of 2020, on the back of increased demand for its panels for IT products and sales of OLED displays amid the pandemic-induced stay-at-home trend.

LG Display reported a net profit of 621 billion won ($561.2 million) for the October-December period, swinging from a loss of 1.81 trillion won a year earlier.

Operating income for the fourth quarter was 685.5 billion won, compared with a loss of 421.9 billion won a year ago, the company said in a regulatory filing. Sales rose 16.2 percent on year to 7.46 trillion won.

Both operating profit and sales were higher than the market consensus of 377.3 billion won and 7.25 trillion won in a survey by Yonhap Infomax, the financial arm of Yonhap News Agency.

For the whole of 2020, LG Display reported a net loss of 70.6 billion won, sharply narrowing from a net loss of 691.6 billion won a year ago.

Operating losses also narrowed to 29.1 billion won from 714.5 billion won, while sales rose 3.2 percent on year to 24.23 trillion won in 2020.

LG Display, the world's largest OLED TV panel maker, attributed its improved performance to increased demand of its display products amid the rising trend of remote working and distanced learning caused by the novel coronavirus pandemic.

The affiliate of LG Group said its display panel shipment area reached 8.7 million square meters (93.6 million square feet) in the fourth quarter, up 5 percent from the previous quarter, while the blended average selling price of its displays reached $790 per square meter, up 12 percent from the previous three months.

LG Display added that solid sales of OLED panels for TVs, supported by full operation of its plant in Guangzhou, China, and increased production of plastic OLED panels also helped the company to enhance its profitability.

Shares in LG Display plunged 4.98 percent to 22,900 won on the Seoul bourse, underperforming the broader Kospi's 0.57-percent decline.

Yonhap