LG Display posts sharply higher quarterly profit due to high demand for OLED panels

LG Display saw its profits rise 81 percent in the third quarter of 2017. According to the company, OLED panels for TVs accounted for 40 percent of total sales in the quarter; panels for mobile devices contributed 27 percent to sales.

Converted, the quarterly profit amounted to 441.7 million euros, a significant increase compared to the same quarter in 2016, in which this figure came to 243.46 million euros. Compared to the previous quarter of this year, the profit decreased by 27 percent: in the second quarter the profit still amounted to 606 million euros.

The decrease in profit compared to the previous quarter is partly related to the substantial investments that LG Display has made in the production capacity of OLED panels. In July, the company announced that it would invest approximately 6 billion euros extra in the production of both large and smaller OLED panels. With this investment, LG Display will invest a total of approximately 11.5 billion euros in OLED production until 2020. The company wants to increase the production of OLED panels from 1.7 million in 2017 to 2.5 million units in 2018.

LG Display has said through its chief financial officer Don Kim that shipments of both LCD and OLED panels will increase by about five percent in the fourth quarter of 2017. This is related to the expected demand for TVs and smartphones during the Christmas season and the Chinese New Year in early 2018. Kim indicated that LG Display expects the overall ‘price erosion’ to slow down.

Turnover amounted to EUR 5.26 billion, an increase of four percent compared to the same quarter a year ago. In the previous quarter, turnover was still 5 billion euros.