LG Display swings to loss in Q1, but sees turnaround

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SEOUL, April 16 (Yonhap) -- South Korean flat screen maker LG Display Co. said
Thursday it swung to a net loss in the first-quarter of this year, hurt by weak
panel prices amid the global economic slump.
But LG Display Chief Executive Officer Kwon Young-soo said the world's
second-largest maker of liquid-crystal displays would probably reach its bottom
in the current quarter as panel prices show signs of gradual improvement.
"Overall, LCD demand is growing at a faster-than-expected pace and prices are
gradually improving," Kwon said in a statement.
"Depending on market conditions, we could achieve a turnaround earlier," Kwon said.
In the first quarter, LG Display lost 257 billion won (US$192.7 million),
compared with a net profit of 717 billion won for the same period a year earlier,
the company said in a regulatory filing.
Compared with the previous quarter, however, LG Display's net loss was narrowed
from a loss of 684 billion won.
The result supported views that a turnaround in the LCD industry may be possible
this year.
LG Display, which trails local rival Samsung Electronics Co., posted an operating
loss of 451 billion won in the first quarter, compared with a profit of 948
billion won a year ago.
Sales dropped 18.1 percent to 3.42 trillion won. In the first quarter, the
average selling price of LCD panels declined to $669 per square meter from $766,
LG Display said.
Buoyed by optimistic forecasts on the LCD industry, shares of LG display advanced
nearly 35 percent in the first quarter, outperforming the benchmark stock index's
15 percent gain.
Shares of LG Display, which released the first-quarter earnings after the stock
market closed, fell 0.32 percent to 31,150 won in Seoul.
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