LG Display quarterly profit plummets as demand shrinks and prices decline (updated)

LG DISPLAY

27/04/2022 06:20

(Adds company comment)
    By Joyce Lee and Heekyong Yang
    SEOUL, April 27 (Reuters) - South Korea's LG Display Co Ltd
 034220.KS  on Wednesday reported a 93% plunge in first-quarter
profit, far below estimates as pandemic-driven demand for TVs,
smartphones and laptops dropped off, causing sharp declines in
panel prices. 
    Operating profit at the Apple Inc  AAPL.O  supplier came in
at 38 billion won ($30 million) for the January-March period,
down from 523 billion won a year earlier. 
    It was the lowest quarterly operating profit since the
second quarter of 2020 and below a Refinitiv SmartEstimate of
182 billion won drawn from nine analysts.
    First-quarter revenue fell 6% to 6.5 trillion won, the
company said.
    In addition to shrinking demand and price declines,
unexpected supply chain problems caused by China's COVID
lockdowns affected panel production and shipments, the company
said in a statement.
    During the period, prices of 55-inch liquid crystal display
(LCD) panels for TV sets fell 16% from the previous quarter to
their lowest since the second quarter of 2020, according to data
from TrendForce's WitsView. 
    Prices of LCD panels for notebooks and monitors also fell by
around 7% to 11% during the first quarter, WitsView data showed.
    Analysts expect prices to drop further in the current
quarter as China's COVID-19 lockdowns lower demand for devices. 
    ($1 = 1,263.0100 won)

 (Reporting by Joyce Lee and Heekyong Yang; Editing by Jamie
Freed)
 ((joyce.lee@tr.com;))