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LGD Records 40 billion KRW Profit Against Expectations…“1 Million OLED TV Panel to be Shipped 2016”

Source = LGD

Source = LGD

Hyunjoo Kang / Reporter / jjoo@olednet.com

LG Display reported today unaudited earnings results based on consolidated K-IFRS (International Financial Reporting Standards) for the three-month period ending March 31, 2016.

  • Revenue in the first quarter of 2016 decreased by 20% to KRW 5,989 billion from KRW 7,496 billion in the fourth quarter of 2015 and decreased by 15% from KRW 7,022 billion in the first quarter of 2015.
  • Operating profit in the first quarter of 2016 recorded KRW 40 billion, a quarter-on-quarter decrease of 34% from the operating profit of KRW 61 billion in the fourth quarter of 2015, and a year-on-year decrease of 95% from the operating profit of KRW 744 billion in the first quarter of 2015.
  • EBITDA in the first quarter of 2016 was KRW 853 billion, compared with EBITDA of KRW 882 billion in the fourth quarter of 2015 and with EBITDA of KRW 1,595 billion in the first quarter of 2015.
  • Net income in the first quarter of 2016 amounted to KRW 1 billion, compared with the net loss of KRW 14 billion in the fourth quarter of 2015, and a year-on-year decrease from the net income of KRW 476 billion in the first quarter of 2015.

LG Display announced its sixteenth straight quarterly operating profit at KRW 40 billion, which resulted from a thorough and profit-focused management based on differentiated technologies in response to a difficult market situation caused by panel oversupply and falling panel prices.

To deal with the difficult market situation, LG Display reduced the manufacturing of TV panels of 30-inches and below, which faced a large fall in prices, while expanding production of 40-inch range TV panels and those of 60-inch and above. The company also increased profitability by focusing on premium differentiated products based on M+ technology and maximized production efficiency in its overall operations by flexibly allocating production between IT product panels and TV panels.

Panels for TVs accounted for 38% of the revenue in the first quarter of 2016, tablets and notebook PCs for 24%, mobile devices for 23%, and desktop monitors for 15%.

With 77% in the liability-to-equity ratio, 153% in the current ratio, and 15% in the net debt-to-equity ratio as of March 31, 2016, the financial structure of the company remains stable.

LG Display will continue to increase profitability by concentrating on premium products such as Ultra HD TV panels based on its M+ technology to respond to a growing demand for large-size TVs, and make efforts to maximize efficiency by improving the manufacturing process in the second quarter of 2016.

Mr. Don Kim, CFO of LG Display, said “Panel shipments in the second quarter of 2016 are expected to increase by a mid-single digit percentage compared to the first quarter. Panel prices are expected to stabilize due to global sports events and an increase in new product shipments.”

 

◆ 65 inch, 30% of Total OLED Panel Shipment… 4-5 Trillion KRW Installation Investment

 

During the morning conference call on 27 April, LGD emphasized that the proportion of panel for ultra large size TV is increasing.

LGD reported that OLED panel shipment in Q1 2016 is slightly less than 200,000 units and estimated they will be able to ship 1 million units this year. While the 55 inch occupied over 85% of the total in 2015, in this year’s quarter the 55 inch proportion decreased slightly and 65 inch increased up to 30%.

LGD is operating OLED panel mass production line at 34,000 units per month as of H2 2015, and explained that the company will achieve Gen8 60,000 units capacity from Q2 2017. This year’s installation investment is expected to be of 4-5 trillion KRW. Along with this, LGD expects global oversupply of LTPS capacity, and revealed they will transform LTPS into plastic OLED (POLED) in stages.

LGD emphasized that the 55 inch FHD line’s golden yield has been almost achieved. The UHD section is also improving yield according to plan.

LGD’s Head of OLED TV Development Group, “65·55 inch, Growth Engine”

LGD’s ChangHo Oh, “65, 55 inch TV are OLED TV’s Growth Engine”(Tokyo=OLEDNET)

LGD’s ChangHo Oh, “65, 55 inch TV are OLED TV’s Growth Engine”(Tokyo=OLEDNET)

Hyunjoo Kang / Reporter / jjoo@olednet.com

LG Display has once again reaffirmed its determination to lead the TV market with OLED as the growth engine. In particular, the company is planning to actively respond to the increase of demand for 65 inch and 55 inch OLED TV.

On April 7, during the FineTech Japan Special Session, ChangHo Oh, LG Display’s OLED TV Development Group, gave a talk titled ‘Technology for Large Size OLED Display’ and emphasized the superiority of large area OLED panel.

As a display for a large size TV, LCD has light leakage issue, but Oh explained that OLED can solve this and actualize natural colors without distortion. Oh added that through self-emitting characteristic of OLED, the demands for large size TV picture quality can be solved, and through freedom in forms such as foldability, the design can be improved to less than 1 mm thickness. Furthermore, he added large size OLED panel’s advantages including superior light actualization in same color sector

a-Si, poly Si, and oxide substrates are mainly used for LCD, and for OLED it is oxide, and poly Si. Oh explained that as a part of responding to the panel enlargement, changing the a-Si of the existing mass production line to oxide could improve enlargement and safety.

Oh reported that as the demand for 65 inch and 55 inch TV is increasing, this will become the growth engine of the OLED market, and that P10 factory establishment in Paju is being carried out.

FineTech Japan 2016 (April 6-8) is a display technology related exhibition held in Tokyo Big Sight. The 26th annual event is participated by approximately 260 companies including Samsung Display, BOE, and Japan Display.

Blossoming April… Hurt by LCD, Heal with OLED

Hyunjoo Kang / Reporter / jjoo@olednet.com

Flexible OLED from LGD(CES 2016)

Flexible OLED from LGD(CES 2016)

From April, the display industry is estimated to start mending the damage carried out by LCD with OLED.

 

In Q1 2016, Korean display industry suffered due to oversupply of Chinese LCD panels. Market experts believe that Samsung Display and LG Display will announce large Q1 deficit in April due to LCD.

 

However, the display market is expected to actively improve its performance from April.

 

Dong-won Kim, analyst with Hyundai Securities, estimated that great increase in profit is expected from Q2 2016 due to the increase in OLED operation rate and yield improvement. Also because of profitability improvement effect following LCD panel’s price rebound, the deficit will decrease.

 

LG Display’s performance in OLED sector is expected to noticeably improve. Over 90% of LG Display’s total mass production line is LCD at present. Hence, the fall of LCD price in Q1 is expected to have hit hard and OLED business is also showing deficit.

OLED TV from LG(CES 2016)

OLED TV from LG(CES 2016)

◆ After Harsh Q1, Warm Breeze of OLED… Spring for Equipment Industry Too

 

However, this will change from Q2. Analyst Hyeoncheol So of Shinhan Investment forecast that LG Display’s OLED TV sales volume and revenue in Q2 2016 will increase by 144% and 106% respectively. He added that the business deficit of OLED TV sector will greatly decrease.

 

LG Display is anticipating that the deficit will turn to profit in H2 2017, with the business profit of up to 1 trillion KRW in 2017, an increase of 115%.

 

Samsung Display, whose LCD and OLED ratio is 50:50, is expected to show 900,000 million KRW in deficit in LCD sector this first quarter. However, this is estimated to be compensated to some degree by the profit in OLED.

 

Samsung Display and LG Display are actively carrying out investment in OLED panel mass production line in Q1. As well as the investment in turning the existing LCD line to OLED, investment in new OLED line establishment is actively being carried out.

 

As such, with the optimistic outlook on OLED within the display market, flexible OLED manufacturing equipment companies such as Tera Semicon, Viatron Technologies, and Dong A Eltek had been discussed as the favorites of securities companies. In fact, Samsung Display’s flexible OLED manufacturing equipment related key collaborator AP Systems showed remarkable growth recording 12,100 million KRW in business profit last year.

 

UBI Research forecast that Korean companies will strengthen their dominance with their 2016 AMOLED shipment’s 95% occupancy of the global market. As OLED is becoming stronger in the TV, smartphone, and VR market, this will become a huge growth engine for global panel companies such as Samsung and LG.

 

The Opening of OLED TV Market, Starts Now

On November 25, LG Electronics and LG Display announced that they are planning to reveal OLED sculptures in various shapes such as tunnel, waves, cylinder, and others using 250 units of 55inch OLED panels at N Seoul Tower in South Korea. The sculptures will screen diverse contents with artistic merit and provide extraordinary spectacle while advertising OLED’s astonishing picture quality.

 

This N Seoul Tower OLED sculpture installation is the second OLED signage that LG Electronics revealed to the public; on November 19, LG Electronics installed ‘OLED Moment’, a supersize OLED signage, in 2 locations in Incheon International Airport and held a completion ceremony.

 

LG Electronics is aiming to lead the OLED TV market through 2 track strategy of OLED TV price reduction and OLED promotion. At the Q2 performance announcement, they revealed their plan for aggressive marketing through OLED promotion. The successive OLED sculpture installation can be seen as a part of LG Electronics’ OLED promotion strategy.

 

This strategy is analyzed to be fairly effective. On November 3, LG electronics revealed that the October sales figure was 4,500 units which is more than twice the amount sold in the beginning of the year. At the same time, OLED TV is continually falling down. 55inch UHD OLED TV, which was priced around US$ 3,000 on amazon.com in September, fell to the current around US$ 2,000.

 

Japan’s Panasonic revealed their plan to actively sell UHD OLED TV from 2016. China’s companies including Skyworth, Changhong, Hisense, and Konka are intending to present or release OLED TV.

 

With LG’s aggressive OLED TV marketing and the increase of OLED TV selling companies, the industry’s attention is on the future OLED TV market’s growth. According to UBI Research, OLED TV market is estimated to grow and record approximately 17 million units in 2020.

 

LG's OLED Tunnel to be Installed in N Seoul Tower, LG Electronics

LG’s OLED Tunnel to be Installed in N Seoul Tower, LG Electronics

Q2 AMOLED Market, the Largest So Far

According to UBI Research’s Weekly OLED Analysis Report, Q2 AMOLED panels recorded the largest shipment and sales so far. With 56 million units, the Q2 shipment increased by 35% in comparison with Q1, and a 19% increase compared to the same period last year. US$ 2,800 million was recorded for sales, which is a 65% increase compared to its previous quarter.

 

Last quarter’s AMOLED market growth is due to Samsung Display’s AMOLED panel supply volume for Chinese set companies and increase in LG Display’s flexible OLED panel production for smartwatch.

 

Q2 AMOLED Shipment

Q2 AMOLED Shipment

LG Display Opens 2015 Tech Forum in Collaboration with Other Companies

출처 : LG디스플레이

Source : LG Display

 

LG Display set out to discover new technology through open innovation in collaboration with other companies.

 

On September 15, LG Display invited top global display material and component companies to Paju factory and opened 2015 LG Display Tech Forum. The invited companies included Merck, Asahi Glass, and Sumitomo.

 

Under the heading of ‘OLED, New Opportunity and Challenge’, 13 key collaborating companies in material, process, glass, and circuitry sectors participated. They promised to share market trend, and LG Display’s OLED and LCD technology development direction and cooperate regarding future technology.

 

LG Display increased emphasis on OLED; LG Display revealed detailed business strategy for large and small size OLED, and discussed technology and products that should be developed together in collaboration with companies in each stage.

 

Additionally, LG Display newly established Technology Innovation Award for collaborating companies that contributed to LG Display’s product improvement with innovative technology. The award was presented to Asahi Glass for developing glass light guide panel used in thin panel actualization, and display material companies Merck and Nitto Denko.

 

LG Display’s CEO Han Sang-beom explained that LG Display could pave the way for OLED with world’s first technology due to much effort and enthusiastic corporation from R&D partners. He also entreated each company to continue to change and evolve through their own R&D competitiveness and creativity and lead the future display market.