(2nd LD) LG Display swings to profit in Q4 on strong demand, price hike

(ATTN: ADDS comments from investor meeting in last 5 paras; NOTES record high sales
in para 6)
By Lee Youkyung

SEOUL, Jan. 20 (Yonhap) -- LG Display Co., the world's second-largest flat panel
maker, said Wednesday that it swung back into the black in the final quarter of
last year thanks to strong demand for flat-screen TVs and panel price hikes.
Net profit reached 478 billion won (US$420 million) in the October-December
period, compared with a loss of 684 billion won a year earlier, the company said
in a regulatory filing.
Sales came in at 6.08 trillion won over the cited period, up 46 percent from a
year earlier, while operating income reached 357 billion won, it said.
The fourth-quarter bottom line was lower than the previous quarter, however, as
demand slowed in the final three months of 2009, bringing down panel prices,
while a stronger Korean currency weighed on the company's price competitiveness.
Shares of LG Display closed at 40,050 won on the Seoul bourse, down 2.08 percent
from Tuesday's close.
LG Display said full-year sales gained 27 percent from a year earlier to a record
high of 20.61 trillion won, but annual operating profit fell 38 percent to 1.08
trillion won.
The LCD industry made a fast rebound from a severe slowdown in late 2008, on the
back of renewed global demand for flat-screen TVs and a recovery in LCD panel
prices.
Analysts expect strong demand for LCD panels to continue throughout the first
half of 2010 and keep key panel prices stable even during the seasonally weak
first quarter.
"We estimate the demand in the first quarter to be in line with that of the last
quarter," Jeong Ho-young, the company's chief financial officer, told an investor
meeting.
TV makers will restock panels ahead of the Chinese lunar new year and major
sports events lined up this year, while declining LCD TV prices will drive up
demand from emerging markets, analysts have said.
"The global market for LCD TVs was estimated at 130 million units last year, up
about 10 million from our earlier forecast, and it is forecast to reach 180
million this year," Choi Hyung-suk, who oversees LG's TV marketing activities,
said at the meeting.
LG plans to spend 4 trillion won this year to consolidate its leading position in
the LCD market and to gain a headstart in such emerging businesses as three
dimensional display panels, solar batteries and electronic papers.
"We could start mass production of eighth generation LCD panels as early as the
second quarter of this year," added Jeong.
ylee@yna.co.kr
(END)

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