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LG Display lowers its profit forecast for fourth quarter

LG Display Co, the world’s second-largest manufacturer of liquid-crystal-display (LCD) panels, lowered its profitability forecast for the fourth quarter, citing a larger-than-expected decline in panel prices amid the global recession.

Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization would be in the “low to mid-teens” percentage of sales, Seoul-based LG Display said yesterday in an e-mailed statement. The company in October said it expected the margin would be a “low 20s” percentage.

LG Display joins AU Optronics Corp (友達光電) and Chi Mei Optoelectronics Corp (奇美電子), Taiwan’s biggest LCD makers, in cutting forecasts for the current period because of weaker demand and falling prices.

LG Display expected that its factory usage would be about 80 percent of full capacity in the fourth quarter as the company plans to “respond flexibly to market situations,” chief financial officer James Jeong said in the statement.

Fourth-quarter shipments would increase by a “low single-digit” percentage from the previous three months, less than an initial forecast for a “low to mid-teens” percentage increase, LG Display said.

Panel prices would fall by a “low 20s” percentage from three months ago, more than the “high single digit” decline it previously projected, the company said.

On Monday, AU Optronics and Chi Mei Optoelectronics also lowered their forecasts for shipments in the fourth quarter. Shares of the two Taiwanese firms rose limit-up at NT$22.05 (US$0.66) and NT$10.05, respectively, in Taipei yesterday.
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