Baek Byung-yeul is a journalist at The Korea Times focused on cultural content, including films and cultural events in South Korea. You can contact him at baekby@koreatimes.co.kr to share your insights.
LG Display shifts to profit on increased smartphone OLED sales
LG Display’s plant in Paju, Gyeonggi Province / Courtesy of LG Display
By Baek Byung-yeul
LG Display has ended its run of operating losses which went on for six consecutive quarters, swinging back into profit in the fourth quarter of last year, boosted by the strong sales of its small OLED displays for smartphones, according to the company, Wednesday.
In its tentative fourth-quarter earnings report announced on Tuesday, the company estimated that its operating profit in the October-December period last year was 131.7 billion won ($97.8 million).
LG Display added that believes it reached 21.33 trillion won in sales and an operating loss of 2.51 trillion won last year.
The industry view is that the company's successful turnaround in the last quarter stemmed from the expansion of the supply of small OLEDs for smartphones.
The company was also able to make a profit in the fourth quarter as the demand for medium-sized and large displays for TVs and monitors also increased thanks to seasonal demand.
Sharing this year’s business plan, LG Display will focus on improving its performance as CEO Jeong Cheol-dong announced at the CES tech trade show held in Las Vegas last week that he will focus on improving profitability.
"This year, we want to focus on the essence of the business," Jeong said. "The essence of the business is to secure profits through creating customer value, and we plan to focus on that direction to make the company financially healthy and lead the turnaround."
The company also said that it expects demand for new TVs to increase again starting in 2025, which could improve the performance of its large-sized display business.
Experts say it remains to be seen whether LG Display will make another operating profit in the first quarter of this year.
The forecast for the improvement of LG Display's performance might be possible in the second half of this year as the demand for OLEDs for tablets and vehicles will increase by then.
“There was performance momentum in the fourth quarter of last year, but there is a possibility that it could falter again in the first quarter of this year,” said Kim Un-ho, an analyst at IBK Investment & Securities.
LG Display will announce its fourth-quarter and full-year earnings results at an earnings conference on Jan. 24.