Apple supplier Japan Display posts 9th straight quarterly net loss (updated)

TPK Holding Co

15/05/2019 07:22

* Posts net loss of Y99 bln for Jan-March quarter
    * FY loss Y109 bln vs analyst estimated loss of Y13.5 bln
    * To cut about 1,000 jobs

 (Recasts with Q4 earnings, job cuts announcement)
    TOKYO, May 15 (Reuters) - Cash-strapped screen maker Japan
Display Inc  6740.T  on Wednesday posted a ninth consecutive
quarterly net loss, hit by weaker-than-expected demand from
Apple Inc  AAPL.O , its biggest client.
    The company, which is pursuing a bailout deal with a
Chinese-Taiwanese group, said its fourth-quarter loss was 98.6
billion yen ($899.22 million), compared with the 147 billion yen
loss a year earlier.
    For the full year, the net loss totalled 109.4 billion yen,
far worse than an average estimate of a 13.47 billion yen loss
from six analysts surveyed by Refinitiv. It was the fifth
straight year of loss.
    The company also said it took a 75.2 billion yen writedown
on one of its panel plants and would slash about 1,000 jobs, or
about a tenth of the group's workforce.
    The results will be closely watched by Japan Display's
Chinese-Taiwanese suitors, who delayed an up to 80 billion yen
investment this week in order to reassess the company's
prospects.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N22P1WH
    The bailout deal would allow the buyers - including
Taiwanese flat screen maker TPK Holding Co Ltd  3673.TW  and
Chinese investment firm Harvest Group - to become Japan
Display's biggest shareholders with a 49.8 percent stake,
replacing the Japanese government-backed INCJ fund.
    A prolonged delay could put at risk the survival of the
smartphone screen maker, formed in 2012 by combining the
liquid-crystal display (LCD) businesses of Hitachi Ltd  6501.T ,
Toshiba Corp  6502.T  and Sony Corp  6758.T  in a deal brokered
by the government.
    The firm has struggled due to Apple's slowing iPhone sales
and its failure to move fast enough into organic light-emitting
diode (OLED) screens, that have seen rising demand from Chinese
smartphone makers.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N22P1WH    

($1 = 109.6500 yen)

 (Reporting by Makiko Yamazaki and Chang-Ran Kim; Editing by
Stephen Coates and Christopher Cushing)
 ((Makiko.Yamazaki@thomsonreuters.com; 81-3-6441-1039;))