LG predicts second quarter recovery

Bad days behind it

LG Display has said that it will have a second-half earnings recovery, signaling a pickup for the struggling panel industry as clients prepare to launch new OLED gadgets.

The outfit said that it was investing $ 1.75 billion to boost production of organic light-emitting diode screens for mobile devices, as smartphone makers increasingly adopt the next-generation technology.

LG Display Chief Financial Officer Don Kim said that overall profitability in the second half of the year is expected to further improve due to stabilised panel prices.

April-June profit fell 91 percent from a year earlier to $ 38.79 million. Revenue fell 13 percent. Global economic uncertainty has undercut demand for electronics devices and squeezed margins for components makers such as LG Display, Samsung Display and Sharp.

LG’s Key client Apple admitted that the sales of its iPhone were down to 40.4 million iPhones in the third quarter, down 15 percent from the year-ago quarter which should have harmed LG too.

However LG is optimistic. Apple is expected to use OLED screens for its iPhones as early as next year.

Monthly output capacity for the new production line, which will start mass production in second half of 2018, could be more than four times that of an existing facility based on surface area.

LG Display said second-quarter panel shipments by surface area rose 5.1 percent from the previous quarter while average selling prices fell by four percent.

Chief Executive Han Sang-beom has said conditions are tougher this year than 2015, although there have been some signs of improvement in the second quarter. Panel prices for some televisions, tablets and monitors picked up in June, according to research house IHS.